Last night’s homeless statistics revealed a total of 10,305 people had accessed emergency accommodation in the month of March.

Philip O’Connor writes:

Last month, to mark the fact that 10,000 Irish people found themselves officially homeless, I published an interview I did in Helsinki with Juha Kaakinen (above).

Juha is the man behind the policies that have seen homelessness in Finland drop drastically since they were introduced (see graph, centre).

These are tried, tested and successful solution that are working in a country with a similar population to Ireland’s.

Now, a lot of political people follow me on Twitter, and I know they have seen this interview – not only that, but Juha has also been to Ireland to speak on this very subject.

The figure that originally prompted me to publish the interview in full has since risen to 10,300. Of them, over 3000 are children.

The only logical conclusion one can draw is not that Irish politicians are ignorant of how the problem of homelessness must be solved. It is that they are very much aware of what they need to do, but they choose not to.

To put it bluntly, the people in power in Ireland are ideologically opposed to doing what is necessary to solve the crises of homelessness and housing. That’s fine – Ireland voted for them, and we have to own our democratic choices.

But whether you are a politician in a power or a voter heading to the ballot box, from the moment you hear what Juha Kaakinen has to say, you can no longer say that you didn’t know.

Philip O’Connor is an Irish freelance journalist living in Stockholm. You can support his work by visiting his Patreon account here

Last night: 10.305