Newbridge councillor slams homeless policy after sourcing emergency accommodation for teen

Social Democrats county councillor Chris Pender says the Government’s policies to tackle the homelessness crisis are not working.

On a Friday night shortly before Christmas "I spent six hours trying to locate emergency accommodation for an 18 year old who hasn’t even been out of care for a year,” Cllr Pender explained.

“It was all in vain as the emergency accommodation number of Kildare County Council was closed at 5pm. Usually it’s open until 9pm, which is often still too early.”

The Kildare councillor said the young homeless person ended up staying in the Garda station overnight.

“We did manage to find accomodation for the weekend.”

Since then, the young person has secured less temporary accommodation.

Heartbreakingly, in seeking accommodation, Cllr Pender had reached out for help to Shane Griffin, a Newbridge advocate  on behalf of young people.

Mr Griffin had experienced horrific abuse and trauma as a child before, in later years, studying social science and going on to help people in similar situations.

He died on the Curragh on New Year’s Eve.

“This situation highlights the lack of integration between Kildare County Council and our homelessness services,” Cllr Pender explained.

The councillor explained that he was once also homeless for about a year, living on borrowed couches of family and friends.

“I was one of the hidden homeless. I have first hand experience of homelessness and the procedures in place for those experiencing homelessness.”

Linda Hayden, who is running for the Social Democrats in the next general election in Kildare South said:

“Our homeless issue in Kildare has reached crisis point. The official figures are over 195 people homeless in Kildare, 138 of which are families.

“And that’s not including the hidden homeless, the couch surfers, the rough sleepers and the families who are literally struggling to keep a roof over their heads.”

She said she knew of one family whose “landlord is refusing to do repairs to get the house up to HAP standard, and so the council are cutting off the HAP payments. Where is that family going to go?”

“The whole system is set up to keep people from escaping it. The only thing that will fix this crisis is government — not developer built — social housing. Developments also need to have the correct infrastructure and facilities to go with them.”

She laid the blame for the problem at the door of the government. “It is government policy that has led to this crisis and it is government policy which continues it.”