Updated 15:30
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Dublin voicing their anger over homelessness and housing.
The National Homelessness and Housing Coalition demonstration made its way from the Garden of Remembrance this afternoon.
Organisers say the Government has failed to improve the situation - with the number of people in emergency accommodation up 15% year-on-year.
The coalition of 50 groups is calling for a range of measures – including rent controls, more social housing and the declaration of a national emergency.
Sinn Féin Housing Spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said protesters were demanding more from the Government on the homeless crisis.
"We have more and more families entering homelessness and we have not enough houses being built," he said.
"So the Government needs to do two things - significantly increase investment in public housing and do more to stop the flow of adults and children into homelessness."
Major #HomesForAll #housing and #homelessness protest to geting underway in Dublin: https://t.co/riOlHohXpE pic.twitter.com/dsHJLFY6xZ
— Mick Staines (@shhtick) December 1, 2018
He said that unless there is a change in policy this will just be the beginning.
"We will keep marching, we will keep protesting, we will keep tabling alternative propositions and legislation in the Dáil and this movement will grow," he said.
"We have already seen this year, thousands upon thousands of people out on the streets - not just in Dublin but right around the country.
"Until we get a change of policy and increased investment form Government, we will keep marching on the streets."
Speaking ahead of the march, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the demonstration aims to compel the Government to take the required action to begin tackling the crisis.
“We are going to be marching through the city centre to Dame Street and we hope we will see thousands of people,” he said.
“Everybody who is affected because they are on a waiting list; because they are paying extortionate rents; because they are actually homeless – or people who are just angry at the injustice and hardship that is being caused by this housing and homelessness crisis.”
All out #Dec1st #Homesforall! @_HousingCrisis Coalition calls for:
* Radical action on #housingcrisis
* Accelerated public builds on public lands
* Additional 1bn funding for #housing
* End to evictions
* Reduction in rents
* Referendum on #right2housinghttps://t.co/uxLGC2LPuR pic.twitter.com/RS2GRBB2TS— People Before Profit (@pb4p) November 7, 2018
The latest Government figures show there were 9,724 people in emergency accommodation last month – however the actual figure may be much higher as many more have ‘re-categorised’ out of the official count this year.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said the coalition was taking its inspiration from the anti-water charges campaign, which he said was based on a number of mass mobilisations that shook the Government into action.
He said the action builds on the “very successful and enormous Raise the Roof protest at the Dáil in October.”
“We want to keep up the pressure, really to force to Government to start to delivering public and affordable housing and to stop the evictions that are fuelling a public housing crisis that is just getting worse and worse and worse,” he said.
Join us on #Dec1st for the biggest #housing march yet! #homesforall
🔴 SATURDAY 01 December | 2pm | Parnell Square, Dublin 🔴https://t.co/YknTujf5JC
— Homeless & Housing Coalition (@_HousingCrisis) November 7, 2018
Following the release of the latest set of homeless figures last week, charities criticised the Government over its failure to tackle the crisis.
Focus Ireland warned that after seven years of Fine Gael Government “the numbers are only going one way – up.”
The charity’s CEO Pat Dennigan said it is "totally unacceptable and wrong" that a new family is becoming homeless every eight hours in Dublin alone.
Meanwhile, Inner City Helping Homeless CEO Anthony Flynn the minister “can’t stand over the figures” after 1,600 people were re-categorised out of the official count – and called for the CSO to take control of the figures.
Speaking in the Dáil the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the only solution to the crisis is an increase in housing supply.
He said the Government expects 18,000 new homes to have been completed by the end of the year.
