Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has accused the Government of having thrown in the towel on the housing crisis. 

His comments were made in response to the latest Department of Housing homeless figures, which show an increase in all categories of homelessness in September.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“Today the Department of Housing has released their homeless report for September. Once again, every single category of homelessness has increased.

“The number of adults, children, families, single people and pensioners living in Department of Housing Funded emergency accommodation increased from August to September.

“There are now officially 12,827 people, including 3,904 children, in HUBs, hostels and hotels.

“Month after month after month, the number of adults and children forced into emergency accommodation is rising. 

“How many more adults and children must be forced into emergency accommodation before the Government acts?

“Sinn Féin has repeatedly called for an emergency response from Government to stem the flow of people into homelessness and to assist people out of emergency accommodation. But our calls have fallen on deaf ears.

“It is not enough for Government to say this is their number one priority. They must act like it is their number one priority.

“The fact that there was no new initiative to address the rising levels of homelessness in the recent budget shows beyond any doubt that this Government has thrown in the towel on the housing crisis.

“The only way we are going to address this deepening crisis is with a general election, a change of Government and a radical change of housing plan.”