Focus Ireland said that the Government has failed to deliver its promised ‘Children’s Budget’ with nearly 4,000 children who are homeless almost entirely forgotten.

The charity did welcome a range of broad measures to help households cope with the cost-of-living crisis but said more could – and should – have been done to help those most at risk. 

Focus Ireland Director of Advocacy, Mike Allen said: “For several weeks we have heard Government ministers promise that the 2024 Budget would be a ‘Children’s Budget’ which would make significant steps to tackle child poverty. We were particularly interested in what hope the budget would offer to the almost 4,000 children who are homeless tonight with their families.’’ 

“It is sadly ironic that today on World Homelessness Day the Government almost completely forgot its promise to deliver a children’s budget for nearly 4,000 children who are homeless. The Government are committed to ‘’making Ireland one of the best places in the world to be a child’’ yet homeless children were overlooked in this budget. No child should be without a home and have to suffer the trauma caused by homelessness. “

We welcome the 25% reduction on childcare fees through the National Childcare Scheme commencing in September 2024, however it is important that the sponsorship scheme is also increased by 25% to ensure that children in emergency accommodation can access free childcare places. In its Prebudget Submission Focus Ireland had called for a twin-track approach in Budget 2024 to invest in accelerated social housing delivery while also increasing investment in prevention services to stop people from becoming homeless in the first place.   

Overall, the budget reflects a continuation of spreading available funds widely and thinly, rather than dealing with key structural issues. This means that there are a few initiatives which are small scale and short-term but nonetheless welcome.  

Focus Ireland gave a cautious welcome to the tax reliefs for landlords and tenants. Mike Allen said, “These sorts of interventions are inevitably short-term, they do not resolve long-term problems, but they can protect people while long-term solutions are being put in place. The tax relief for landlords is structured to create growing incentives to remain in the market over a critical four-year period.  

Mr. Allen said: “We must always remember that homelessness is not inevitable. There are many initiatives that could be taken that would contribute to ending this crisis.  For instance, there are policy recommendations outlined in our pre-budget submission which require no budgetary allocation. These recommendations could be acted on immediately to help curb the rising numbers of people becoming homeless every month.”  

He outlined: “One such policy action we are calling for is to establish a process for allocation of social housing which gives fairer access to households trapped in homelessness for extended periods. At present the record delivery of social housing is having no impact on the number of homeless families.  

Focus Ireland Welcomes in Budget 2024:  

·        Increased capital funding of €155m in 2024 for local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to deliver much needed additional social housing. 

·        Increased capital funding of €55m in 2024 to deliver Cost Rental, Affordable homes and to bring vacant homes back into use. 

·        An increase in expenditure on homeless services of 27m to 242m next year.  (from €215m in 2023 and €192m in 2022.)  In addition, for the first time a separate capital budget of €35m has been identified for Housing First, which was previously included in the Dept of Housing and Dept of Health budget.  

·        A further €35m in capital funding announced in Budget 2024 to develop the Housing First programme and help support the most vulnerable adults out of homelessness was welcome. However, the funding announced on Budget Days is consistently out of line with true expenditure every year and the expenditure increase announced today is not in line with the record increases in the numbers experiencing homelessness that we have seen over the last year.

·        Increase on vacant homes tax from 3 times the LPT to 5 times the LPT. 

·        Child benefit payment extended to 18-year-olds in full time education.  

·        €90 million for the retrofitting of social housing in 2024 

·        Increase in foster care allowances from end of 2024, and double payment for foster carers at the end of 2023 which will help address the growing crisis support for children growing up in care.