One can only imagine that Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, breathed a sigh of relief. In the midst of a difficult General Election campaign, his Department was able to publish homelessness figures for December, which for the first time in a year, saw a reduction.
Housing has remained firmly on the agenda throughout the General Election 2020 campaign. Previously, the JCFJ proposed three questions about housing which could be used in conversations with canvassers, to see what each party’s housing policy is, beyond slogans. To close this loop, answers about housing policy were also taken from their current manifestos.
Despite 2019’s “green wave”, just a small percentage of the electorate says the environment is their top priority when choosing who to vote for in next month’s general election. To see it as disconnected from the other electoral issues is an error, says Kevin Hargaden.
It has been difficult to remain unmoved by the many images of homelessness and poverty which have confronted us in the past weeks and months. A young boy kneels to eat a warm meal provided by a soup kitchen. Using a piece of cardboard, probably provided by a parent, he is trying to prevent the… Read more »
The Irish housing and homelessness crisis is a crucial election issue. In this guide to the topic, our Social Justice Advocate, Keith Adams says our incoming politicians need to answer questions about expenditure and payments to private landlords, as well as their position on the right to housing.
A recently published report by the European Commission echoes the view of the JCFJ that there is “statistical obfuscation, if not corruption” in the Department of Housing’s monthly homelessness figures, says Keith Adams. Much has been written in the past three years about the homelessness and housing crisis in Ireland. Analysis and human-interest pieces are… Read more »
When published on 19th July 2016, the Irish Government’s Rebuilding Ireland action plan for housing and homelessness described the Irish housing sector as ‘dysfunctional and under-performing’. Three years later, by practically every metric, the crisis has deepened, leading Peter McVerry SJ to label it ‘an abject failure‘. Rebuilding ‘Rebuilding Ireland’, our analysis of the plan,… Read more »
The latest figures for homelessness in Ireland have been published and for the first time the numbers counted are above 10,000. With over 3,700 children without a home, and the numbers of homeless families still growing, there is widespread dismay at the government’s failure to meaningfully respond to this long-running crisis, says Kevin Hargaden. Minister… Read more »
The latest figures for homelessness in Ireland have been published and for the first time the numbers counted are above 10,000. With over 3,700 children without a home, and the numbers of homeless families still growing, there is widespread dismay at the government’s failure to meaningfully respond to this long-running crisis, says Kevin Hargaden.
Working Notes is a journal published by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. The journal focuses on social, economic and theological analysis of Irish society. It has been produced since 1987.
