Local authorities must be compelled to take the best interests of the child into account when working with families who present as homeless. At the end of March this year there were 3,472 children in emergency accommodation, an increase of 661 on the same period last year
Focus Ireland said while local Authorities nationwide are working extremely hard to deal with the crisis, they need more support. Director of Advocacy at Focus Ireland Mike Allen is calling for the reintroduction of the Housing (Homeless Families) Bill 2017 so that local authorities are compelled to consider the 'best interests of the child in their decision making.
"We have been arguing since the current family homelessness crisis started to emerge 10 years ago now, that we needed to upgrade the legislation to make sure that local authorities are required to take into account the best interests of the child when a family presents as homeless.
"Some local authorities are doing their best while others have no guidelines and their staff get no training with regard to all of that," he added.
