COPE Galway welcomes the allocation of €30m to the State’s house building programme announced in Budget 2014 and the stated intention to seek public funding to provide “stable homes” for families who are long term homeless.
They also welcome that the homeless budget of the Department of the Environment is to be protected. ‘With over 3,500 on the social housing waiting list in Galway City alone and over 100,000 nationally it is vital that there is investment in the provision of homes,” said Martin O’Connor of COPE Galway.
“We at COPE Galway are especially pleased to see specific mention of providing homes for people who are homeless and the protection of the homeless budget in light of the increasing number of homeless people seeking assistance from services such as those we provide’. However the charity has expressed concerns about the negative impact of Budget 2014 on a range of people in Galway including older people, and young people who are unemployed.
”COPE Galway maintains that budget measures such as the scrapping of the telephone allowance in the household benefit package, the increase in the prescription charge to €2.50 per item and the lowering of the income thresholds for medical cards for over 70s will considerably worsen the situation of many older people living in Galway.
“Older people in our experience manage their household income very carefully and are already struggling to make ends meet because of rising food and energy costs’ explained Mr O’Connor. ‘We fear that these measures in Budget 2014 will negatively impact on the lives of many older people and result in greater isolation for some.”
COPE Galway describe the scrapping of the telephone allowance as a particularly retrograde measure in light of the fact that the landline telephone plays such a vital role in the operation of personal alarm systems and as a means of keeping in contact with family and friends. ‘We fear that this budget measure will now leave some older people not just having to choose between eating or heating their home as is already happening but now also having to make a choice about whether or not they can afford to keep the telephone’
COPE Galway also fears that the reduction in Job Seekers Allowance to €100 per week for under 25 year olds may place more young adults at risk of homelessness and result in those who do become homeless remaining so for longer periods of time. “Not all younger adults have family with whom they can live due to family breakdown and other factors so we are disappointed to see this measure introduced in Budget 2014’ explained Mr O’Connor.
“We have for some time been highlighting the plight of young people on reduced Job Seekers Allowance who become homeless and cannot afford to secure accommodation. In fact some 10 per cent of the 400 people we provided emergency accommodation to in 2012 were under 25 and spent extended periods of time in homeless accommodation for this very reason. What was needed in the Budget were measures to address this situation and not to further add to it,” he said.
