With the eviction ban set to end from tomorrow (Friday March 31 ), Galway Simon Community has highlighted that their services are receiving a growing number of requests for support from people worried about becoming homeless.
With the current moratorium on evictions ending and the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB ) reporting that 4,741 Notices to Quit were received nationally in Q3 2022, the charity is concerned that this situation is set to worsen.
While the charity welcomes the Government initiatives to help address the housing and homelessness crisis, it remains deeply concerned that the conditions that necessitated the eviction moratorium persist and more positive long-term actions need to be implemented.
According to the latest Daft.ie reports, average rents in Galway City and County rose by 19.4% and 13.8% to €1,796 and €1,295 respectively in the last year. The Simon Communities of Ireland latest Locked Out of the Market Report shows that there were no properties available to rent in Galway under the Discretionary HAP rates.
Housing demand continues to outstrip supply in the West and with the forthcoming tourist season the shortage of Emergency Accommodation will be further exacerbated. Crucially, securing exits out of Emergency Accommodation is becoming ever more challenging as there are so few homes available.
Karen Golden, CEO of Galway Simon Community said that in order to stem the number of people facing the trauma of homelessness in the West, they are calling on Government to take actions on a scale that matches the challenges in the housing sector.
“The delivery of social and affordable housing needs to be accelerated dramatically. In 2021, 245 social houses were delivered in Galway. At this rate it could take 26 years to deliver enough social homes for those currently on the social housing list and in HAP tenancies in Galway. In 2022, only 8,000 social houses were delivered nationally, well short of the Government’s own target.”
“We welcomed the Government initiative to address vacant or derelict properties through the ‘Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant’, which was launched in July 2022.
“According to Census 2022, Galway had the third highest level of vacant properties in the country at 12,008. Bringing even 10% of these into use for social housing would have a dramatic impact on the numbers on the social housing waiting list.
“However, since the launch of the vacant property initiative only one of the 51 applications received by Galway City and County Councils has been approved and zero grants have been issued. This is reflected in other local authority areas also, which would indicate that the level of grants and the approval process need to be urgently reviewed in order to encourage more people to avail of it,” she added.
“Galway Simon Community is passionately committed to preventing homelessness where possible, and believe that solutions are key to resolving this crisis. Over 90% of those who engaged with our Prevention Services over the past two years avoided entering Emergency Accommodation.
“We are very conscious that the extensive recent media coverage around the eviction ban is compounding the stress and anxiety for people who are worried about becoming homeless.
“We would encourage people who may have received a Notice to Quit and who are concerned to seek support early by contacting us or one of the other agencies and we will work to support them in trying to find a solution,” concluded Karen Golden.
