According to the annual report released by Homeless agency Focus Ireland this week, there are currently 5,000 people without accommodation in Ireland with a further 100,000 households waiting for local authority housing. 
Following the publication of their report the charity has called on the Government to use empty houses left over from the boom to provide accommodation to those most in need. They asked how “thousands of homes were lying empty in every county when more people than ever before were living in inadequate, overcrowded, unsuitable and insecure shelter“.
Their appeal comes not long after the Respond Housing Unit urged NAMA to consider using empty houses for those in need and to only consider knocking down empty and unfinished houses as a last resort, “Waiting lists for local authority accommodation are rising and NAMA should now deliver on the promised social dividend… It could be argued that the only real housing market at the moment is the social housing market as private demand has been virtually wiped out,” said Aoife Walsh, spokesperson for the Respond Housing Unit.
It is now estimated there are between to 345,000 and 352,000 vacant houses in Ireland.
Have your say: Empty Houses: Should they be given to those in need?
