Cavan-Monaghan TD Pauline Tully has called on the Minister for Housing to immediately introduce an emergency response to rising levels of homelessness. The call was made as the Residential Tenancies Board reported that 4,518 eviction notices were issued to tenants in Q3 of this year, with 44 eviction notices issued to tenants in Cavan and 27 issued to tenants in Monaghan during this period.
Deputy Tully says from July to September, 4518 tenants were issued with notices of termination by their landlords. That brings the total number of eviction notices issued this year to 15,006. She said in the absence of the Government providing an adequate supply of social and affordable homes, the high number of eviction notices is leading to increased homeless presentations and increased homelessness. The local TD says last week's homeless figures clearly showed that eviction from the private rental sector is the primary driver of family homelessness.
Deputy Tully continued; "For several years, we have been calling on Minister O'Brien to introduce an emergency package of measures to address the growing homeless crisis. This includes using emergency planning and procurement powers and new building technologies to deliver at least 1000 extra social homes over 12 months to end homelessness for the over 55s in a single year and significantly reduce family and child homelessness. It also means expanding the tenant-in-situ scheme for both social and affordable rental homes. Some progress is being made on this scheme, but it is still too slow, particularly with respect to the cost-rental tenants-in-situ."
