Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has called on the Minister for Housing to immediately introduce an emergency response to rising levels of homelessness.

The call was made as the Residential Tenancies Board reported that 4518 eviction notices were issued to tenants in Q3 of this year.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“Today, the RTB released the Q3 eviction notice figures. From July to September, 4518 tenants were issued with notices of termination by their landlords. That brings the total number of eviction notices issued this year to 15,006.

“In the absence of the Government providing an adequate supply of social and affordable homes, the high number of eviction notices is leading to increased homeless presentations and increased homelessness.

“Last week’s homeless figures clearly showed that eviction from the private rental sector is the primary driver of family homelessness.

“For several years, we have been calling on Minister O’Brien to introduce an emergency package of measures to address the growing homeless crisis.

“This includes using emergency planning and procurement powers and new building technologies to deliver at least 1000 extra social homes over 12 months to end homelessness for the over 55s in a single year and significantly reduce family and child homelessness.

“It also means expanding the tenant-in-situ scheme for both social and affordable rental homes. Some progress is being made on this scheme, but it is still too slow, particularly with respect to the cost-rental tenants-in-situ.

“The Government will also need to reconsider its opposition to a temporary reintroduction of the ban on no-fault evictions. It is likely that when October’s homelessness figures are published the Government will have breached the 13,000 figure of people in Department of Housing-funded emergency accommodation.

“The fact that not a single new measure was included in Budget 2024 to reduce homelessness shows that the Government’s actions don’t match their words on the homelessness crisis.

“Today’s RTB report is yet another wake-up call that the Government needs to act, and act urgently, if they want to avoid further rises in homelessness in the months ahead.”