The policies to end homelessness : A case study of Ireland’s policies

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to investigate homelessness situation in Ireland and 2) to study the policies which Irish government implemented for reducing and ending homelessness. Qualitative methods including collecting data from the documents, government’s reports, annual reports, and related studies were employed. The policies related to homelessness which Ireland’s government applied between 2018 to 2022 were focused. Thematic analysis method was utilized to analyze the collected data and descriptive research report of the study were presented.

The findings were categorized into two themes: the homelessness situation in Ireland and five policies which Irish government implemented to end homelessness. For the first theme, it was found that the number of homeless people unsustainably declined. It dropped to 7,991 from 10,000 in 2021; however, it increased again to 10,000 in April 2022. This was possibly due to the government focused on providing accommodations which was short-term solution rather than centered on the causes of being homeless, that is, debts and drug addiction. The homeless number was thus shortly declined while the long-term problems were still unsolved. Concerning the second theme of research finding, five policies including three national level and two local level policies were found to be implemented. All of policies geared toward provision of the people with houses/residence in Ireland through “delivering” and “price controlling” strategies. This would eradicate homelessness from the country. In so doing, since 2018 there have been huge amounts of house/residence constructions, and this would continue to 2030. Additionally, the government purchased houses/residence from private sectors in order that it could dominate the housing market and control the market prices. Besides, the government also subsidized and provided loan schemes to support the first-time house buyers to prevent the new cases of homelessness. The Ireland government should improve the working skills of homeless people, as well as, reducing the redundant activities and organizations which related to homelessness to minimize the expenditure.