The homeless crisis will take a "catastrophic" turn this winter due to a "perfect storm" of factors, a leading activist has warned.
Fr Peter McVerry has predicted the number of homeless will "go through the roof" this winter due a diminished private rented market, the influx of Ukrainian refugees and students going back to college in September. The founder of the Peter McVerry Trust predicted 15,000 people will be on the streets by early next year.
He told Dublin Live: "I think the future is catastrophic. There are a number of issues that make it so. Most people exiting homelessness do so through the private rented sector - that has diminished.
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"There are far, far fewer private rented apartments available. So, the number of homeless people who will be able to leave homelessness will be substantially reduced this year compared to last year."
He added: "We have the Ukrainian crisis as well. No matter what way you look at it, there will be competition for available front door accommodation.
"That [students coming back to cities in September] is going to make a big difference. The situation is catastrophic."
The number of homeless across the country exceeded 10,000 in the last two reports by the Housing Department. And Fr McVerry said this number of people on the streets has become "normalised".
He said: "The figures from last month and this month have exceeded 10,000 but they have gotten very little attention in the media. It has become normalised.
"I remember about 7 or 8 years ago. I gave a talk in Dun Laoghaire and the [then] Minister for Housing Jan O'Sullivan was present. I predicted that the crisis in homelessness was coming down the line. The number I used to define a crisis was 5,000. And everybody said, that was ridiculous - don't be scaremongering."
He added: "10,000 has become normal. I predict it to be 12,000 by Christmas and next year it will go up to 15,000."
"It should be illegal to advertise for Airbnb without all the required planning permissions and regulations. If a certain county has 30 flats to rent, it probably has 300 Airbnbs to rent."
Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien has proposed to introduce new restrictions on sites like Airbnb. Fr McVerry "welcomed" these proposals but said "far more radical" legislation was needed to tackle the housing and homeless crises on a long-term basis.
He called for the re-introduction of the ban on evictions which was introduced during Covid-19 restrictions to halt masses of recently unemployed people becoming homeless. "I'd like to see that ban extended for two or three years with exceptions like if the landlord was in financial difficulties or needed it for their family," he said.
"You could reduce the cost of housing by 30% tomorrow by implementing the Kenny Report. The report recommended that land that was to be used for building would be compulsory purchased by local authorities at exacting value, which is usually agricultural value, plus a 25% profit for the landowner - that eliminates land speculation."
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