Issues housing Ukrainian refugees have “exposed the lack of accommodation” in Ireland and must lead to a “renewed focus” from the Department of Housing, the Irish Red Cross has said.
In an interview with the Irish Mirror, Irish Red Cross Secretary General Liam O’Dwyer said that “creativity” used to find accommodation for refugees could help deliver permanent accommodation in the long term.
The Government is continuing to grapple with accommodation shortages for those fleeing the war in Ukraine.
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Two weeks ago, 43 people were left with nowhere to sleep as the State ran out of accommodation.
Despite warnings from the Irish Government and Ukrainian Ambassador Larysa Gerasko that accommodation cannot be guaranteed, a further 1,228 refugees arrived in Ireland last week.
There are fears that the accommodation situation could continue to deteriorate, with over 300 hotel contracts due to expire between now and December.
While Mr O’Dwyer praised the Irish Government’s response to date, he said that the shortage of accommodation highlights Ireland’s ongoing housing issues.
“The core problem is we don't have enough houses,” he said.
“Apart from the refugees, we simply don't have enough houses.
“With the people from Ukraine and the international protection [seekers] coming, what it really does is it exposes the lack of accommodation that we have in the country.
“A renewed focus by the Department of Housing on that really needs to be the outcome of this.”
He continued: “There's a lot of people who have come forward commercially to offer accommodation, which has never really happened before.
“They’ve brought a lot of older buildings back into use. I think that that bit of creativity, which the government has supported, to be fair, that's going to deliver in the longer term in this country additional housing.”
The Irish Red Cross played an important role in the early days of the refugee crisis by facilitating the “pledge process” that saw 26,500 people offer vacant or shared accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.
However, when the pledges were investigated, just 10,500 were appropriate.
The Department of Integration said that 4,801 people are living in pledged accommodation, while 2,850 properties are awaiting placement and are currently being acted on by NGOs and Local Authorities.
Mr O’Dwyer said that the speed at which the Local Authorities have placed people is “disappointing”. He also said that the blame for the slow-roll out has been unfairly placed on the Irish Red Cross.
'The pledges were given to [the Local Authorities] by the Government to place,’ he said.
“From that point of view, it's a concern. But has it taken a long time? Absolutely, it's taken a long time.
“That is frustrating, in particular, for the pledgers. They are hearing in the media that there's no accommodation or that people have to sleep in the airport.
“They are understandably really annoyed. Because everything is branded ‘Red Cross’, the tendency is for people to focus back on us.”
Under plans decided by the Cabinet last Friday, Local Authorities will issue a new “vacant homes call”.
When asked if he believed councils would be able to cope with this, Mr O’Dwyer said: “I don’t know. They should be, by the way.
“Local authorities have housing departments and this is what they're set up to do.
“This shouldn't be a major job for them. In the same way, the placement should not have been a major job either.”
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