PRESS RELEASE

2015-06-14
Morris responds to death of homeless man in Nenagh
Cllr Samie Morris of Sinn Fin has expressed shock at the tragic death of a homeless man on
a street bench in Nenagh last week. While I am proud to say that he was fed and indeed given
a room the odd night by the fine people of Nenagh, this brings home the desperate
homelessness situation that we have in the country.
The staff of O'Briens Sandwiches on Kenyon Street were feeding the man just an hour before
he died on the bench. But homelessness is a multi-faceted problem, and food alone isn't the
answer. The kindness shown by Nenagh people needs to be matched with initiative and
investment from the state.
Unfortunately most of the new homelessness has seen young families and working people on
the streets, or even sleeping in their cars. Often this is caused by horrific housing policies
inflicted on the people of Tipperary by Joan Burton, Alan Kelly and Jan O'Sullivan.
The constant cuts to rent supplements and rent caps has been devastating for those people in
Tipperary who depended on rent supplements to house themselves in decent accommodation.
Every time the rents were reduced tenants were asked to renegotiate downwards their rents
with landlords who had already reduced their rents 3 times.
This created massive friction between tenants and landlords forcing many people out of their
homes and has now seen landlords point blank refusing to take on people in receipt of any type
of housing assistance.
Recently Tipperary county council noted that some of the consequences of those reductions
were an increase of people presenting as homeless, tenants paying above rent-caps creating a
poverty trap, ghetto-isation, tenants securing substandard accommodation to stay in line with
rent levels, overcrowding in family homes, lack of capital to enable landlords maintain
properties and stretching of tenancy sustainment services as tenants are forced to move away
from centres where services are provided.
In the last 5 years 1,618 people have presented to homeless centres in Tipperary. This proves
that this Governments housing policies are failing the people of Tipperary. The latest Social
Housing Strategy announced by Minister Kelly is hugely aspirational and based on the goodwill
of private landlords.
Those landlords have seen better options in private letting as opposed to taking on council
tenants. Tipperary home building has collapsed from 3,016 builds in 2006 to just 215 last year.
This means that the lack of housing in Tipperary will see landlords holding all the aces and a
rise in rents is inevitable.
As the Chairman of the Tipperary Housing SPC (Special Purpose Committee) I will be watching
closely our housing allocations. I'll be judging the Minister not on his words but on his actions.
The citizens of Tipperary deserve homes instead of bluster.
ENDS
Cllr Seamus Morris is available to answer questions on 087-285-9125