Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Has the Government or the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government examined properly the reasons homeless figures continue to soar? The Government's reliance on the private sector to build housing and on the private rented sector is one of the reasons. Non-interference in the private market is a major issue in relation to homeless figures. The unwillingness of the Government to have the State build large quantities of social housing is another reason. The Government does not even have an affordable housing scheme. We need a State company to spearhead the building of social housing. We must also stop the sell-off of housing portfolios to vulture funds and others. It is a scandal that this is allowed to happen while this is going on. Almost 10,000 people are now homeless, of whom 3,755 are children. There are almost 90,000 people on the housing waiting list. This has not changed, rather it has got worse over the past number of years.

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