Up to 14 homeless families living in one of Dublin's best known hotels are being evicted at the end of the month, with nowhere to go.
The Gresham says it's no longer accepting payments from Dublin City Council to provide emergency accommodation.
Inner City Helping homeless says an increase in tourism levels is pushing many families out - and it's not up to the hotel federation to solve the crisis.
Kim Buckley has this report:
We have confirmed 14 families are being accommodated by DCC in the @greshamhotel all of whom will have to leave this month and be moved as new owners will not accept a homeless payment.@Homeless are currently working to provide alternative emergency accommodation. pic.twitter.com/RTzR5IY2Vq
— Anthony Flynn (@AnthonyICHH) January 4, 2018
115 million euro has been spent on emergency accommodation in 2017 in Dublin up from 43 million the year before.
Inner City Helping Homeless says the government needs to step in and to stop relying on the private sector to solve its problems
Inner City Helping homeless says its offered a number of solutions to Dublin City Council that would provide appropriate accommodation to the families, but they still haven't heard back.
Representatives for the Gresham Hotel were unavailable for comment.
Below is a statement from the Irish Hotels Federation;
There are times of the year when hotels have surplus accommodation, which they can make available to agencies to provide temporary accommodation for families affected by the housing shortage. All arrangements are handled directly between the local authorities and the individual hotels concerned and the IHF cannot comment on any individual case. Hoteliers providing this service do so to provide temporary relief and immediate shelter for families in serious need. This is not considered a core part of a hotel’s business. Hotels were not planned, built, fitted out or marketed on the basis of providing long-term accommodation for families. This is a very difficult situation for those affected and requires a long-term solution as the use of hotel accommodation can only be seen as a short-term and temporary measure.
