Housing Minister has no answer to over 4,000 homeless children

Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil today, Labour leader and housing spokesperson Ivana Bacik called out Government’s failure to deliver the housing supply that is desperately needed.

Deputy Bacik said:

“Since the inception of Minister O’Brien’s Housing for All strategy, we have seen an increase of more than 70% in child homelessness. These are not just numbers, they are precious, young lives, shaped by uncertainty and instability.

“The legacy of this Housing Minister will be an almost 70% increase in children doing their homework on the floor of a hotel room, their families hampered and humiliated by a failure which rests with this coalition of convenience.

“On every key metric, this Government is failing people of every generation. It’s failing renters, with a 27% increase in rents since the launch of Housing for All. It’s failing those who want to buy a home, with the average age of a first-time buyer now at 39 years old.

“Time and again, we have offered Labour’s solutions – to build affordable housing, to provide security of tenure for renters and to introduce a more ambitious public housing programme.

“This Government’s consistent and persistent failures continue to let down an entire generation of people. It’s promise of affordable housing is meaningless when house prices and rents continue to soar.”