Paul KeenanHomelessness in Ireland has reached its worst crisis point in 45 years, Br Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin Day Centre has warned.
“We have more people at risk of dying on the side of the road than when we started the Centre in 1969,” the Capuchin said.
Describing himself as “appalled” that the State’s current housing situation has been “allowed to develop” despite repeated warnings to Government, Br Kevin penned a letter to a national newspaper last weekend both to describe the current “three-tiered” reality of homelessness and to appeal for immediate action to deal with the crisis.
“Every day here in the Capuchin Day Centre we meet with the tragic human casualties of failed Government policies that have reached a new height in social neglect by our Government and those charged with ‘cherishing all the children of the State equally’,” Br Kevin writes.
Those ‘casualties’ now fall into three distinct categories, according to Br Kevin – Rough Sleepers, New Poor who have been squeezed out of the private rented market, and Owner Occupied Households suffering under austerity and/or mortgage arrears – with “all three competing for the same limited resources”.
Appealing for immediate action against growing homelessness, Br Kevin suggests the Government could look to those voluntary groups such as the Capuchin Day Centre for guidance in addressing the crisis.
“Having survived over four decades of the social situations that foster and nurture homelessness with practically no help from the Government,” he writes, “perhaps the State could learn something from our ‘Strategic Plan’ which is based on the principles of St Francis of Assisi – ‘Start with what is necessary and Do what is possible’.”
Contacted by The Irish Catholic newspaper this week, a spokesperson for the day centre revealed that it is now working with record numbers of visitors for its services: “Our numbers are climbing and climbing, we’re peaking enormously.”
www.capuchindaycentre.ie