Home Sweet Home Planning To Spread Outside Dublin

The Home Sweet Home campaign today announced that they plan to take their campaign on to a national level.

On the run-up to Christmas, the group were instrumental in taking control of Apollo House, a NAMA owned property in the centre of Dublin. With the support of a number of musicians, including Glen Hansard, Damien Dempsey, Hozier, Christy Dignam of Aslan, Kodaline and many more – as well as film-maker Jim Sheridan (pictured) and actress Saoirse Ronan – the building was turned into an alternative home for people who otherwise would have been sleeping on the street.

The takeover took place almost two weeks ago. Since then a series of dramatic developments have ensured that homelessness has become a major part of the national conversation – which was the core objective for many of those involved. There are currently 40 residents in Apollo House, where facilities have been provided to enable residents to stay through the day – rather than being turfed out in the morning, as frequently happens elsewhere. Apollo is also receiving referrals daily from the soup kitchens which are set up to ensure that homeless people are at least fed.

In the High Court, while Judge Gilligan seemed sympathetic to the Home Sweet Home initiative, he made the point that he had to uphold the law and ordered that the premises be vacated by 11 January. At the moment, Home Sweet Home and the Irish Housing Network are considering the judgement – and they may yet decide to appeal the decision.

However, they said today that their objective was to secure a longer term alternative, where a different kind of home could be provided for homeless people. And the spokesperson for the Irish Housing Network also stated that they plan to launch a national campaign to combat homelessness.

There could be an interesting few months ahead.