Dáil debates

Thursday, 18 April 2019

Youth Homelessness: Statements

 

10:10 am

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am asking the Minister to implement the recommendations, first, for a constitutional right to housing which is supported widely in this House and is called for in the report of the Ombudsman for Children. My Housing Homeless Families Bill 2017 is stuck waiting for a money message. That is about respecting the needs of children whenever the family becomes homeless. Focus Ireland has said that the Bill if it was implemented would make a huge difference to the way in which families are treated when they enter homelessness. Will the Minister do something about this money message so that we can move this Bill on?

I want to see the homelessness inter-agency group meet because there is a silo issue. The Minister spoke about how the Department of Education and Skills is responsible for one thing and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is responsible for another and Tusla is responsible for something else but we need to make sure that there is joined-up action from these Departments.

I want to focus now on youth homelessness, in particular an issue to which two Sinn Féin speakers referred, namely, young people coming out of care. Earlier this week there was an article in The Irish Timesby Kitty Holland who said that more one third of young people coming out of State care end up in homeless services. There is a proposal in Rebuilding Ireland to increase the number of Housing First homes for young people exiting homelessness. One of the actions states "we will triple the targets for tenancies to be provided by Housing First teams in Dublin." We need to see more Housing First for young people and that is one of the recommendations of the Irish Coalition to End Youth Homelessness. Many of us attended the launch of that group very recently. It includes organisations like Barnardo's, BeLonGTo, the Peter McVerry Trust, the National Youth Council, Focus Ireland, Threshold, NOVAS, the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, St. Vincent de Paul and several others. This is a coalition to address the problem that is often hidden, of young people who do not necessarily present as homeless as they may be couch surfing or they may be with family. Nevertheless, they are extremely vulnerable and their needs need to be addressed. In many cases they have had adverse childhood experiences, mental health issues, etc. They really need the support of a Housing First-type response, which is a wraparound service addressing the variety of their needs. I urge the Minister to consider this report and its recommendations. The primary recommendation concerns Housing First and providing appropriate accommodation for these young people. It specifically refers to communities and accommodating these young people within their communities. There are several recommendations that I urge the Minister to consider.

It is important to address this issue when 3,784 children are identified as homeless. The central issue is how we treat people in this country when they are most vulnerable, and these children are at their most vulnerable. There needs to be permanent solutions for these families. The recommendations of the Ombudsman need to be implemented.

I am reluctant to return to the barbs from across the Chamber but the number of homeless families and children was miniscule when I published that 84 page report, the intention of which was to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2016. It had several specific implementation recommendations and actions but at that time there was not a crisis in family homelessness as there is now. There is now a very acute crisis affecting many children around the country and that needs an urgent and a focused solution. The recommendations in the report of the Ombudsman for Children point to many practical ways in which this can be addressed.It has to be addressed and treated as a crisis.

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