Chief Executive for Dublin City Council Brendan Kenny has confirmed to the Strategic Policy Committee for Housing that there will be a 300-bed shortage for homeless this winter in Dublin.
According to Inner-City Helping Homeless (ICHH) this has become a reoccurring trend in recent years despite promises from Government Ministers and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE).
Speaking after announcement CEO of the ICHH Anthony Flynn said: “The deputy chief’s announcement this morning is highly concerning.”
“Warning signs regarding the requirement for additional bed space around the city have been flagged. Year on year we see additional bed space requirements heading into the winter months.
“Considering Covid-19 guidelines extra additional capacity should have already been in place. The deputy chief says we require an extra 300 beds in the middle of a pandemic.
“This is the first time that such an admission on bed shortages has been made in the city. Services are already stretched and are seeing serious increase in presentations.
“We require immediate emergency measures to be implemented and a solid plan on how we are going to deal with this. All Government and Council departments need to be engaged regarding what empty buildings we have under our remit.”
With new Covid- 19 measures in place the number of available beds in hostels around the country has been greatly reduced.
However the ICHH has advised that 450 additional beds had been sourced in addition to 670 beds in hotels and one-bedroom tourist apartment.
