Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin, has warned that the Government may be in danger of making rising homelessness seem normal, reports Breaking News.
His remarks come following confirmation that the number of people without permanent housing has again hit record highs, with 15,747 individuals now living in emergency accommodation.
Among those affected, 4,844 are children who were staying in emergency housing during the final week of May, reports Breaking News.
Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Mr Ó Broin emphasized that homelessness has risen every month under the current administration.
“Every month since this Government has been in office, the numbers have increased. The latest figures for May show increases across every level of homelessness. Adult homelessness, child homelessness, singles, children, families, and pensioners. The constant rise in child homelessness is deeply concerning, and a direct result of Government failure. The policies they are pursuing are failing, and in particular, they are failing children. What we need is a radical change in direction. Without that, my concern is we will continue to see record highs every month,” reports Breaking News.
“They are in denial about the scale of the emergency we are in. They are in denial of how their policies have caused this crisis, and they are spending far too much time blaming everybody else, for an emergency of their making,” reports Breaking News.
The Sinn Féin TD claims the Government risks accepting homelessness as a norm and is ignoring how deeply it affects people’s lives.
“I think the Government is at risk of normalising ever rising levels of homelessness, but also the enormous impact of staying in emergency accommodation has on adults, and particularly children. Every time I hear a Government minister or the Taoiseach say housing the homeless is the number one priority, the problem is you can’t keep saying that when month on month, your actions and inactions are leading to an ever greater number of people being homeless,” reports Breaking News.
“Ultimately, the solution to this is accelerating the delivery of social and affordable homes, and also the kind of homes in the right place,” reports Breaking News.
Mr Ó Broin also expressed alarm about the Government’s recent adjustments to Rent Pressure Zones.
Under the revised rules, any new leases beginning on or after March 1st, 2026, will be based on market rental prices and come with a rolling six-year minimum term.
After those six years, landlords will be allowed to reset the rent to current market levels—meaning the first round of rent increases under the new structure could begin in 2032, reports Breaking News.
Mr Ó Broin voiced concerns that these reforms will cause rents to rise beyond what many tenants can handle.
“One of the big concerns about the Rent Pressure Zones from March next year, when the rules come in, we are going to see over a period of time, rents right across the private rental sector reset to market rents, and that is something renters will not be able to afford. It is important to remember the reason rent regulations were introduced in the first place in 2016 is because rents in the private rental sector were increasing 20 per cent plus a year,” reports Breaking News.
“Families were unable to afford those rents, falling into rental arrears and then emergency accommodation. The idea that dismantling that is the solution, is utter madness,” reports Breaking News.
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