<p>
	The answer is preventing people from losing their homes not more emergency beds</p>
<p>
	The director of advocacy at Focus Ireland has said the government&rsquo;s efforts on emergency accommodation have been &ldquo;misplaced&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;If they put the same amount of energy into a commitment into preventing families from being turfed out of their rented homes... we would have a more positive affect,&rdquo; said Focus Ireland director of advocacy Mike Allen</p>
<p>
	He also called for a change in legislation to more accurately reflect the current homeless situation in Ireland.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;The current legislation was written for homeless single men. It has not been updated to take into account children and families and their needs.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;What are the new statutory responsibilities? There should be legislation that ensures no families sleep rough.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	Focus Ireland says that the number of homeless families in Dublin is &ldquo;now well over a thousand&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	Mr Allen said that his organisation has been warning for two years that this situation could arise.</p>
<p>
	He said the situation on Tuesday night was &ldquo;horrific&rdquo; when there were no hotel rooms as emergency accommodation for 12 families.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;That was the highest number ever. One or two families would send shockwaves through our organisation. But to have 12 families &ndash; 30 children and one pregnant woman, without a bed, was horrific.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	Mr Allen said that the only recourse they had was to advise the families to go to a Garda Station.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;They go to the Garda stations, they&rsquo;re told &lsquo;nothing we can do, we&rsquo;d have to arrest you&rsquo;. Very often, the families won&rsquo;t go to the Garda station because they&rsquo;re afraid their children will be taken from them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	Mr Allen said three families spent the night in Fairview Park in Dublin.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;The fundamental thing about this story is that it has to be seen as absolutely wrong.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no law that has been broken &ndash; nobody has failed to meet their statutory duties. There doesn&rsquo;t appear to be any obligation on the State, on the Taoiseach, on the Government, even when they&rsquo;ve been found homeless, even when they have children in their care.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by the Irish Times on the 25th May 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/homeless-families-with-nowhere-to-sleep-sent-to-garda-stations-1.3095281">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/homeless-families-with-nowhere-to-sleep-sent-to-garda-stations-1.3095281</a></p>
