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Cllr Toireasa Ferris.
A WHEELCHAIR user was found sleeping in the boathouse in Banna during the May Bank Holiday weekend, a Sinn Fein councillor told the meeting of the Tralee Municipal District on Monday.
Cllr Toireasa Ferris was speaking after her party colleague, Cllr Pa Daly, proposed a motion that the Council commit to purchasing single unit accommodation as a matter of urgency.
Cllr Ferris said there are up to 2,000 people – out of the 4,000 on the housing list – who are on the one and two bed list. She said landlords are not bringing down accommodation costs and the Government caps on rent supplement are creating a crisis for people looking for this type of accommodation.
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“There are an amount of males that are in absolutely horrendous accommodation. Last week we had an individual in a wheelchair sleeping at the boathouse in Banna. Someone pitched a tent for them, but as soon as the housing department were made aware of him he was accommodated elsewhere,” said Cllr Ferris.
“It’s at crisis point. We’re going to have more and more people sleeping on beaches and in doorways,” she added.
Michael Scannell of Kerry County Council said there was no need for people in Kerry to be sleeping rough in Kerry as emergency accommodation is there. It was not right that the person concerned was not aware of this, he said.
Cllr Ferris said she was aware of people who availed of emergency accommodation but when funding for this ran out, they had to leave and had nowhere to go.
The Council said it was acutely aware of the high number of single units needed in the Tralee Municipal District and are working within the options available to secure units in order to meet the relevant housing needs.
