In March 2025, CLM welcomed the opportunity to make a submission to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (the Department) on its Statement of Strategy 2025-2027.

CLM welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (the Department) on its Statement of Strategy 2025-2027.

Housing and homelessness-related queries constitute a high proportion of the queries we receive in our community law centres, and many of these are of an acute and urgent nature. We frequently advocate on behalf of individuals and families who have been refused access to emergency accommodation.

We also assist people who are living without heating or running water and with poor sanitation – a breach of their basic human rights. Many of our clients are on waiting lists, some as long as 15 years, to access adequate social housing. In the interim and due to a shortage of suitable private rental homes, they have no option but to stay in emergency accommodation.

On average, four in ten of the individuals we meet at our legal advice clinics are at risk of becoming homeless. These issues persist year-on-year. It is disappointing that no referendum on housing is on the horizon, despite a commitment in the previous Programme for Government to hold one, and the Housing Commission’s report recommending a referendum on a right to housing. The failure to put a referendum on a right to housing to the Irish people, which would be a crucial opportunity for the Irish people to fundamentally, radically and progressively shape Ireland’s housing policies, is a missed opportunity.

In this submission we make a series of recommendations in relation to Strategic Goal A of the Department’s existing Statement of Strategy: To provide a framework that ensures a sustainable housing system in Ireland with a supply of good quality housing to match the needs of all our people.

Read the full submission below: