Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)

I thank the Minister of State for being here with us today. I know he is representing the Minister for housing, Deputy James Browne, on this Commencement matter. As I have said previously, I really want the Minister, Deputy Browne, to succeed in his role as Minister for housing. It would certainly lift the spirit of Ireland. The housing crisis is a debacle. If we can make a difference, it will change many people's lives.

This is not the first time I have spoken about homeless and emergency accommodation figures in this House. When I was first elected to this House, I put on a whiteboard in my office the homeless numbers on that date. The number of people in emergency accommodation at that time was 15,286, and the number of children was just over 3,000. I was excited to see the new Minister for housing and I was hoping that we would all be part of the solution to improve the numbers in an area with which I am very familiar through my voluntary role as chair of Tiglin. Today, I want to review progress. I am sad to say that the situation has deteriorated even further since then. The latest figures from the Department are stark. There are 16,353 individuals in emergency accommodation. We now have 5,145 children in homeless accommodation. That is an increase of over 700 in total in the past year. For the first time, the number of children in such accommodation has exceeded 5,000. Those are not just statistics; they are kids who are going to be brought up in emergency accommodation, which is going to have a huge impact going forward.

When we look at the numbers, we see that the number of emergency accommodation applicants has risen by 13% in the past year. Included in that are 2,400 families and 252 people over the age of 65. It reflects a system that is not working. It seems we have a housing plan that is failing to meet the urgency we are presented with. As we approach the start of winter, it is getting colder. Like isolation and vulnerability, cold weather impacts people who are homeless far more than the ordinary person. Focus Ireland and the Simon Community have said in recent reports that housing alone is not enough, and that support is also needed. An example is one guy who came to us with his son at the Lighthouse, the homeless café on Pearse Street. He had a dual diagnosis of mental health and addiction issues, but he was homeless. He had tried different services for many years. We got him into rehab. He got his life back on track but he also had supported housing. He started to work through our community employment scheme. Today, that guy owns a house in Wicklow. He is a productive member of society as a manager in a company. I have noticed that with the proper supports, change can actually occur for the individual, for the world and certainly for Ireland.

I believe we need to be more ambitious in our approach. The Minister of State knows that. We need to provide housing solutions, and we need to provide the supports that go with those solutions. In the Lighthouse homeless café on Pearse Street, we feed about 500 people a day. If the Minister were to give me 500 houses today, it would not solve the problems of the people who go there. A lot of them need extra supports. That is where we need to focus. As has been mentioned before, the establishment of a housing task force would ensure housing accountability, and it would also ensure co-ordinated action. My question is this: how are we going to deal with the numbers on my whiteboard in a way that ensures we are not back here in six months looking at a worse situation?