Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin TD has called on the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien to extend the ban on evictions and to double the Housing First targets for 2021 to 400 tenancies.

Speaking after a hearing on Homelessness at the Housing Committee this morning, Teachta Ó Broin said:

“At this morning’s committee we heard from Professor Eoin O’Sullivan, Professor of Social Policy at TCD, who has published extensively on homelessness, Dr Una Burns from Novas, the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive and Alice Leahy.

“There was broad agreement that the best way to protect people from homelessness is to extend the ban on evictions through 2021 and to increase the number of Housing First tenancies.

“The reduction in family homelessness we are seeing in the Department of Housing’s monthly homeless figures is a result of the Covid 19 ban on evictions and this ban should be extended until at least the end of 2021.

“The witnesses were also clear that expanding Housing First is the way to reduce the number of deaths of people accessing homeless services.

“The Government’s Housing First target for 2021 is 200 tenancies, this should be at least doubled to at least 400.”