Madam
“Agency sees big increase in homelessness” was the headline to a report about Crosscare in your edition of September 18th.
As someone who has been working with homeless people for the past 30 years, I fear we will see these kinds of headlines more often in the coming months.
This is because ongoing hidden cutbacks being introduced by the Government are making life much more difficult for those on the margins, and may inevitably result in many of them ending up on our streets.
When Minister Michael Finneran when he launched the Government’s Homeless Strategy recently, he rightly asserted that “poverty, mental ill health, addiction and family issues” can lead to people becoming homeless. However, he then failed to acknowledge that Government cuts in the support services meant to help people address these problems will result in more of them being turned literally into outsiders in our society.
In other words, even the most objective or detached observers would have to concede at this point that government policy is likely to create more homelessness.
– Yours, etc,
ALICE LEAHY,
Director Co-Founder,
TRUST,
Bride Road,
Dublin 8.
