Group pictured at the Wexford Housing Action Group Homeless Awareness Day in The Bull Ring, Wexford. Pic: John Walsh

AN EVENT aiming to promote awareness of issues surrounding the housing crisis in Wexford was held on Saturday in the Bullring by the Wexford Housing Action Group.

The group, which is part of the Irish Housing Network, wants to ensure that the crisis, which is currently affecting thousands of families, remains on the agenda for the coming General Election and all candidates were invited to sign a pledge to commit to finding real solutions to the problem.

Candidates were given the chance to publicly pledge to actively campaign for better services for the homeless, to introduce improved regulation of the private rental market and to call a halt to economic evictions.

Those who signed the pledge included: Leonard Kelly (Social Democrats); Cllr. Deirdre Wadding (People before Profit); David Lloyd (Direct Democracy Ireland); Ann Walsh (Green Party); Caroline Foxe (Independent); and Emmet Moloney (Independent).

A spokesperson for the group said: “Our aim with this pledge is to give the voters a clear picture of which candidates support a radical overhaul of the current housing provision system. The social housing stock is being privatised through HAP and RAS schemes. The practice of housing homeless families in bed-and-breakfasts is doing absolutely nothing to tackle the basic issue of supply.

“Certain groups of homeless are being completely let down by the system. There is no shelter in the county for anybody with addiction or with mental health issues. Every person has a basic right to shelter, but their issues are being used against them to exclude them from homeless services. This is just not good enough in a country which has seen the number of billionaires double since the beginning of the crisis.”