Issue of Mayo homelessness raised at Oireachtas committee

Mayo County Council has outlined its policy in regard to the provision made for people on its homeless list.

Senator Paddy Burke raised the matter at an Oireachtas committee meeting at a time when a homeless person is staging a protest outside the headquarters of the council in Castlebar.

Senator Burke asked: "Are there many people on the homeless list in Mayo? If there are people on the list, is there a policy in the county in respect of what provision is being made for them?"

In response, Simon Shevlin, senior housing officer with the council, outlined: "We have a homeless forum.

"We house people. We allocate people emergency accommodation. We work on the statistics to find those people long-term accommodation.

"We are trying to reduce homelessness as much as we can.

"What happens is that if somebody comes to the municipal district, he or she is either allocated emergency accommodation by us or given vouchers for bed and breakfast accommodation or a hotel in the locality.

"We have specific houses around the county which are designated for emergency accommodation for families with young children. That is how we manage at present."

Tom Gilligan, director of housing services, also replied t Senator Burke's query.

He outlined: "In 2022, Mayo County Council had 112 presentations as regards homelessness. They would have been made up of individuals and family members.

"On current numbers, between ourselves and Roscommon, we have a total of 86 adults and 76 children.

"We have seen an increase in the number of people presenting as homeless. Obviously, this is a sensitive and difficult area.

"What is assisting at present is the moratorium on rents in the context of notices to quit. That will be in play until March.

"We are certainly working on that. We have an active team dealing with housing and homelessness.

"What we try to do in a sense is intervene as best we can to ensure that the situation does not become a homeless situation.

"We try and work with people who are in danger of losing their homes through no fault of their own."