Charity Calls On Dublin Cllrs To Support Renovation Plans

A homeless charity is calling on Dublin City Councillors to support plans to renovate over 60 homes in O'Devaney Gardens.

Focus Ireland is also urging the Environment Minister to make further commitments to ensure that the newly housed families get adequate on-going support and also commit to investment in broader regeneration in the area, to overcome existing reservations.

The vote on the proposal is scheduled to take place today and several councillors have already indicated their intention to vote down the proposal.

If the proposal goes ahead 64 housing units which were scheduled for demolition will instead be renovated and made available to some of the hundreds of families which have become homeless due to the growing housing crisis in the city.

In a statement Focus Ireland said: "This proposal originates in the 20 point plan announced by Minister Alan Kelly on the 9th December last year, following the tragic death of Jonathan Corrie on the streets of Dublin. The 20 point plan included a promise (Point 9) that the council’s plans to demolish over 600 vacant homes across the city would be reconsidered to see which of them could be used to deal with the crisis. At the time there was widespread political and public support for this plan, and a recognition that it is wrong to demolish viable homes at a time when people are forced to sleep on the street or to raise their children in a single room in a B&B.

"The O'Devaney Gardens proposal is the first significant outcome of this initially well-received promise, and it is shocking to hear so many of our Councillors saying that they now plan to vote against homes for desperate homeless families. Focus Ireland is calling on Councillors who are thinking of opposing the proposal to think of the plight of these families and reconsider. Defeat for this proposal would condemn 64 families to continue to live in appalling and inhuman circumstances and probably bring an end to an initiative which could benefit hundreds.

"Focus Ireland has delayed making a statement on this issue until we have had an opportunity for our staff to consult with the homeless families we work with. We have now received a clear message that this initiative, for all its limitations, will be strongly welcomed. We now call on the city councillors to listen to the voice of these families too.

"Focus Ireland recognises that this is not an ideal proposal but it is a sign of the scale of crisis that we face that such measures are essential. We have expressed concern that the proposal put to the council contains very little about the support which will be given to these families after they move in, and the council has had no discussion with our team who provide that support, or the families themselves. It would certainly strengthen this proposal if stronger commitments were made in relation to ensuring such support would be put in place, including support to help these families move on back into mainstream housing. Focus Ireland has supported the Council in moving families in similar projects and the positive outcomes of these could be used to allay concerns in the wider community."

(CD/MH)