Tánaiste Joan Burton and homelessness campaigner Father Peter McVerry will be among the speakers at an IMPACT public event on Dublin’s homelessness crisis on Saturday 20th September. The event, hosted by the union’s Boards and Voluntary Agencies' branch, will challenge policymakers and practitioners to outline practical measures to implement their commitments to tackle the capital’s homelessness crisis.
Other confirmed contributors include Wayne Stanley of Focus Ireland, Bob Jordan of Threshold, Catherine Kenny of Dublin Simon, and IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan and assistant general secretary Ashley Connolly.
The event is part of IMPACT’s homelessness campaign which, earlier this year, saw over 100 Dublin local election candidates pledge to protect homeless service budgets during the current local government term, which ends in 2019. Since then, the Government coalition has published its Statement of Government Priorities, 2014-2016, which promises measures to tackle the housing crisis.
Dublin City Council is also reported to be seeking substantial Department of the Environment funding to increase its housing stock. Meanwhile, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has placed housing at the centre of its 2015 pre-budget submission.
The IMPACT event aims to probe these and other commitments to tackle homelessness by exploring the practical measures necessary to turn pledges and promises into new sustainable homes and homelessness services.
It will bring together a range of practitioners and stakeholders from homelessness and housing NGOs, trade unions, local authorities and politics to explore priorities and policy options while highlighting the importance of homelessness services being delivered to those most in need.
Contact joconnor@impact.ie for more information.
