An All-Ireland Problem

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From top: Graphic showing number of empty homes in rural Ireland; figures from Peter McVerry Trust report on rural homelessness

Homeless charity Peter McVerry Trust has launched a new report on rural homelessness.

From the report:

As of April 2019, there were 40,234 mortgages across Ireland in long-term mortgage arrears (two years or more).

According to information published each year by the Central Bank, rural counties have the highest percentage of mortgages in arrears as a percentage of all mortgages.

This has the potential to impact heavily on rural homelessness given the rates of mortgage distress and repossession

In 2018 financial institutions across Ireland repossessed 1,284 homes.

Peter McVerry Trust tweetz:

Homelessness is impacting small towns across Ireland – not just larger urban areas.

Peter McVerry Trust publishes new report on rural homelessness (Peter McVery Trust)

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25 thoughts on “An All-Ireland Problem

  1. B9Papi From Planet Goo

    Can’t we just put them all behind bars?

    Solve two problems at once – homelessness and the decline of the rural pub

    It’s sad to say in the modern technocrats world unemployment and poverty is directly related to skills and unskilled people get left behind. It’s a cruel world out there but as someone who constantly had had to reinvent myself the message needs to get out to lads about the importance of education and self development to break the welfare dependency cycle. It won’t please many here but sometimes it’s not easy for us who do get on with things to accept that others can’t and won’t make it and are constantly looking for handouts. You have to take ownership of your own problems first. This government for all its faults is the first to actually try to get that mindset across in Ireland which is why we are seeing this

    1. some old queen

      No such thing was working homeless then? And further more, if you are a renter, you are just two pay checks away from being homeless if you are unfortunate enough to loose your job- play all the blame games you want but the bottom line is- there is just not enough housing stock.

      1. B9Papi From Planet Goo

        That’s a factor in Dublin for sure
        But this discusses national figures
        Is there accommodation shortage in Cavan?

    2. martco

      hmmm, yes they could call these facilities “(re)Education Hubs”
      a creative solution!
      perhaps
      when social acceptance of the idea eventually beds in
      they could evolve it to a more..Final solution!

      1. B9Papi From Planet Goo

        Again you’re speaking to a state sponsored solution
        What about people doing it for themselves?

    1. TheQ47

      From top: Graphic showing number of empty homes in rural Ireland;

      Not number of homeless, but the number of empty homes.

      1. Rob_G

        All of the long-term unemployed people in Dublin should be moved to the countryside then – kill two birds with one stone.

          1. Rob_G

            No, that would be silly.

            There is a housing crisis in Dublin; I don’t see why unemployed people should be housed there at the expense of people who have to be there for work.

          2. some old queen

            Did it ever occur to you that the reason unemployed people stay in Dublin is because there is a far better chance of getting back into employment?

          3. Rob_G

            @Soq –

            Some people have that the state is currently subsidising to live in Dublin have been on the dole years and years; proximity to the jobs market does not seem to be having the desired effect. As there is a chronic shortage of housing for workers in the capital, its time to try something different.

            There are plenty of people who commute in from work from surrounding counties 5 days a week; I don’t see the issue with a jobseeker having to do the same every week or so for an interview.

          4. scottser

            so rob, by your logic when someone loses their job in dublin they have to up sticks with the kids and sod off to leitrim.
            classy.

          5. Rob_G

            People who have jobs already have to up sticks and sod off to Carlow, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Wexford, etc.

            If there were enough housing for everyone in Dublin, all well and good; unfortunately, at the moment there isn’t, so I think that people who are working should be prioritised over those who are not. I don’t really see how one can justify spending a fortune on HAP payments for someone to live in Dublin, when they could be living in bigger, cheaper accommodation elsewhere – somewhere where there is not so much pressure on school places, GPs, etc, and where their social welfare payment will go lot further, and where local businesses would appreciate their custom a lot more than Dublin businesses would notice it missing.

          6. some old queen

            And you assume everyone receiving HAP is unemployed why?

            People are not work units to be shoved around when it suits an economy- they have partners, children and extended families- they are parts of communities- just like everyone else.

          7. Rob_G

            I’m not assuming everyone in receipt of a HAP payment is unemployed; my statement related only to the unemployed; I don’t think it is a judicious use of government funds to pay > €1,300 per month to private landlords to house people in Dublin who don’t have jobs tying them to the city.

            ‘Everyone else’ is also often obliged to by circumstance to move to other places all the time, for work or study or whatever; it is part of life for many people.

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