A show of military might some of its strategic weapons were put on display including their Ballistic Missiles tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula for months as north korea ramps up missile and Nuclear Tests but those are the headlines the news continues here on aljazeera after the street station thats a water bottle. On october the first catalonia plans to hold an independence referendum yet the Central Government insists its unconstitutional and the courts have judged it illegal as the state clamps down and cattle take to the streets where will this crisis and watch aljazeera for the latest. Hi emily could be its one of the richest countries in the world yet ireland has what campaigners are calling a homelessness crisis and its getting worse and ending and youre in the stream live on aljazeera and you tube in january we had an overwhelming online response to a show we did on this issue take a look. At the housing crisis in our own has without a doubt reached an urgency level and the public has i think is an expression of the social movement arising in n. Ireland for the right to housing i mean like it and its you can point to any dimension of it and its a complete disaster i mean theres one hundred forty thousand people on the social how does housing waiting list who. Should be getting social housing and. To three main reasons people are becoming homeless today in orleans is rising rents and its unemployment and its people who are falling out of direct vision. Well back then a group of musicians and housing activists illegally occupied appollo house a vacant government owned building in the center of the Irish Capital dublin and turned it into a makeshift homeless shelter what they did caught the imagination of the country people turned up at the building wanting to offer food and clothes a mattress cellar provided bedding and oscar winner glen hansard and other well known musicians saying protest songs from the roof so why almost a year later have things gotten worse when we did that show about six thousand five hundred people were officially listed as homeless in ireland this month the number passed eight thousand for the first time and almost three thousand of those people are children the numbers have been rising fast in recent years and campaigners say the real figure could be even higher there joining us to discuss this issue in dublin singer songwriter and activist glen hansard also in dublin Erica Fleming is a housing campaigner she was once homeless herself and no its parliamentarian for the governing phina gale party and the minister of housing also sent us an outline of Government Housing policies and included this statement the minister for housing a and murphy acknowledges that the current level of homelessness which families and individuals are experiencing across the country is totally unacceptable this issue remains the top priority for Government Resources and funding are not an issue and will not be an obstacle to the urgent delivery and heavy lifting that is now required but without it welcome to the show everyone now for those of you who are familiar with glen hansard to all start this conversation with your so little clip of him performing. Land around musician an actor to give us what led you to this fight against homelessness in ireland. Where for me it was just you know all the cheer doing some gay guys and you know giving money over to to help the Homeless Charities peter my fairy simon and i used to volunteer at simon when i was a kid and homelessness is something that i guess is fairly close to my own family. And so it was always just something that really kind of concerned me and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse and. And so i found myself sitting with some friends and you know how to points and you know talking about the situation and i guess if you call yourself a sort of socially conscious liberal then at some point i guess you have to sort of. Sort of step up and and what we did was we sort of a few friends around and talked and then the talk turned into a meeting and we had a meeting and we were talking about oh you know what things to do and what not and some crazy ideas were floated and but the one that seemed the most kind of. I suppose sort of humane and simple was just to take a building that was in the ownership of which is which in our opinion belongs to the people of ireland. And basically create a shelter because there was a there was a lot of people on the streets during that particular period and it was the winter months and what you have to understand in our land is we had the highest winter mortality rate in the o. E. C. D. So people poor people die in ireland in the winter so we simply want to create a space where people could go and because there wasnt enough beds in the system even though the government told us there were there was there was not and we basically took over a building we make a wonderful man gave us a load of mattresses and we basically made a makeshift shelter an incredible amount of people an incredible amount of resources were given to us and actually we were running a pretty tight ship in there and of course you know that we were we were given a court order to get out and and once that court order was given we had to get it right because because the services wouldnt come in and help people against the law we were there with they were doing everything they were doing everything in their power to help but once that once the court order stopped we had to get out because services one committed that would become a very dangerous place to be right so well address more on on those services and whether that perspective is shared amongst our guests but you mentioned as you were speaking that this is an issue thats close to your own family members i pulled up headline here that those in ireland might be familiar with close to home singer glen hansard reveals family problems which are driving him to help the homeless do you feel comfortable sharing those issues its really its an awful headline. Absolutely i mean you know you know my my my my and my my my my my mothers youngest daughter died in homelessness two christmases ago on a bench in birmingham and she made some poor choices in her life she was an alcoholic and she she passed away in homelessness there but also you know just you know i mean the. You know the there are so that homeless homelessness is so broad and then there are so many you know we i grew up in a house where my grandmother and my grandfather lived in the house with my cousins two causes of mine lived in the house we were you know people are very proud and were you know were very resourceful and well well sort of you know when things dont go right you know youre getting kicked out of your house you know this thankfully to someone to go to but theres a huge amount of hidden homelessness and i live in you know you got a figure of eight thousand one hundred forty but actually the number of people who are without a home across the globe across the country you know people like a young lad who lives next to me plays a bit of based on the you know hes hes easily been into it was living in town his mates he was in college and they couldnt afford his rent anymore because the rents are skyrocketing landlord put them up by fifty five percent just before simon calder nice four percent rent capture was brought in the guy was kicked out of his house hes gone back to his parents and i said to him you know youre one of the statistics actually youre one of the people who is the hidden homeless and he was like oh wow i didnt even know that and if we could put a number on that it would be staggering and thats a good point i think thats important to remind people that homelessness isnt just people sleeping on the streets i want to get the voice of someone who has experience homelessness firsthand into this conversation erica take a look at this tweet we got from. Greene she says homelessness often affects our most vulnerable and Young Children so important that those of us in a position to speak out to erika youve used your voice to speak on behalf of the Homeless People in ireland the last time you joined our show you were in emergency housing can you tell us what is your situation right now so we were helpless on the first of april this year and so weve been in this property for six months and thats the local authority. So what is the what is your house like are you are you satisfied with a limited to bed. And were delighted to be here because everything has settled down and normality is back and we have a. Routine and this child is very happy so once my daughter is happy thats all that matters to me and you mention your daughter so i pulled up pictures that you sent us of emily here she is here in her new home here in the scene and i just really on her page i want to say that much just make actually she actually donate its. Just still so. The person who donated them not just to. Mention a little bit earlier here your daughter is what is she doing shes painting the new house yeah were painted. Just beyond. Just a hall or just paint and a few poor little bits come off the wall the next day it was horrible. Now you have the opportunity to make those two exact and you and your daughter here how is your daughter doing. Shes still great and life really has just returned to normal. She doesnt talk about when we were homeless she doesnt want to talk about it and its in the past and she just wants to melbourne and may but then the other night were sitting on the chair in the house and so im just really happy that shes happy and shes content you would also wonder will there be an effect on whole Going Forward will have last and lasting consequences i really hope it doesnt but im i just dont know yet so i want to get a government voice in here no take a look at us weve got from tracey she says lack of social housing plus lack of suitable private pencils with severely disabled child shes describing her own situation and she says she could be facing pending homelessness. What would happen for a person who finds themselves without a home to live for what is the process they can go through well obviously one person bringing home a hugely regrettable eight thousand people being homeless is a National Tragedy let there be no. Government perspective whatsoever and this is the most urgent crisis facing this government and the issue which we want to tackle most. I know progress hasnt been as fast as people would like it certainly like. I get cases like that previous week there. Was every week. People who are Homeless People who are strong risk of being homeless and like you said yourself there are hidden homeless as well and thats a real category and its difficult to quantify the big categories and but one thing perhaps worth noting is that. Most of the people who present themselves to my office many of them will have been on what we call the social housing list for up to fifteen years or thereabouts give and take and to be the most and many of them the less. Hong kong or derrick and truth depending on the area its broken down so for example my areas that i cover that people would claim it would be probably a month and some cool luck so there would be a to be quite a long list im not a hundred percent sure exactly how long each list is i can only go by the highest figure if you like you know i dont want person expense my office is eight hundred ninety two se on a given list so i dont know how to carry that amount of people weigh in on help is social health like as an on the county council list thats what i thought you. Know im ok overall. Id be familiar with the overall figure on ninety thousand or thereabouts around the country is the current list and its a huge make no mistake about that either now about how long do people typically expect to wait on that housing left before their house has adequate housing its hugely dependent really on the nature of their own circumstance i couldnt give a median i suppose but certainly i would get the most extreme date which would be up to fifteen years and the point about that being but you know this crisis is going back an awful long way on its peak but know that those numbers are not going to come down sorry those numbers are not going to come down when the goldmans i build end of the last six years twelve hundred social housing houses so the average would be two hundred pay so its not going to help themselves i mean he was on the list. And then a homeless guy tried to sell the city ten years on a list. Do you dont you know your own case is huge or gravel and im glad to see that in your own case its been resolved but i realize thats just one case and there are a great great many others but what i would say is that this year were going to build four times as many houses as well in twenty fifteen is that a no no circle how many did you build in twenty fifth a im sorry. Im sorry no no no thats the problem how many was actually built in two thousand and and fifty. My own body and i think itll probably three hundred which would make a bit well this year will that part of the crisis no certainly not im going to do your job and show you just a little bit of. Evidence of this because this is your Facebook Page and all added to new photos this is july tenth great to have housing minister owen murphy out in dublin northwest today on his first stop we met five families who are availing of affordable coop housing and the minister handed over the keys you can see those pictures here so this is just referencing what you mentioned a little bit earlier how are people reacting to this conversation so people are talking to us about all the other services that are needed a home is just the first step gwen i want you to take a listen to this video comment we got from a woman named Sarah Carroll and she actually wrote a young adult novel featuring a homeless character and her mother take a listen to sarah those that are experiencing homelessness the moment they need the services to get through this Mental Health care or child care for families with children and these services are not provided were going to see the children that are experiencing this right now having to deal with the trauma of as you used to come so going to service that its not just about getting a home its about Everything Else that needs to come with it and your experience working on this issue what other services have you found are essential for rebuilding someones life. Well i mean i grew up in a town called the moment is on the north side of the city was the first tower blocks in ireland i think i think you know you did too. And. You know the issue you know that one of the things the government would say about not building more social how is this idea of not creating ghettos and not wanting you know to kind of you know and sort of this idea of mixed tenure and all you know private and social problems probably more was just that there was not a there was there was barely a Shopping Center i mean we were we were caught off and that created a lot of problems created a lot of problems with people but i have to say its been said that i grew up in an Amazing Community i grew up in an Amazing Community of people who pulled together and took care of each other despite the fact that there was no services and that that lady is absolutely correct. You know you will be but this is only beginning you know there were there were two families per day becoming homeless in dublin and i had two pounds per day but according to now all next twelve hundred houses i got to be built and this is supposed to be the big solution glenn yeah absolutely twelve hundred more than that next year and more than that next year after its not for want of money that were not finding which one point three billion euro will be invested here i figure will be matched and surpassed and years ahead for you over five billion over the next well lets talk. Money now twenty two houses were recently by the local authority four hundred eighty tauzin to pay you and a half a million and now it costs two hundred ten thousand to build a council house. Beyond that so that would buy two and a half times the house pay you know and you know what i mean its only down to trying to hold back point there earlier on when i grew up and effectively the same area as i did and you know one hundred percent social housing within the building that i grew up in you know what happened there was that the wrap around services to complain on social housing simply didnt follow i mean really never followed in terms of public transport in terms of health in terms of education in terms of policing they never followed those people were left waiting and in many cases are still waiting for the services so thats why i became to learn from those mistakes im not engaged in building on every greenfield indivisible doctor to the park nor like dublin im rather trying to build it sustainable Cohesive Community well the end i mean youre you know. Like well. How it works although i dont know so social housing works all over the valley mom was an extreme example actually and as i said an amazing place to grow up in my ups and i want you to think i completely agree with you know housing does work and it works best so i believe land when it is a mixed environment makes can you where you know you look at you know. From going for example i think works for you know some of the all england i hear what youre saying like you know what youre saying about social housing i want to bring in one more voice so this is tracy and she might disagree she says social housing wait lists are many years long if youre not selected as a tenant and private rental market homelessness is next and its that point that i actually want to pick up on because aljazeera spoke to someone who talks about how you could go for having a job and living in a home to not this is Brian Kearney he spoke to aljazeera and he shared a story of how he ended up on the streets of dublin have a look. We were brought into the office one morning tortie drivers were laid off basically you have to give you. Was a shock to everybody everybody you know had mortgages i know at least ten different. Hose from it because they still dont big mortgages you know they were thought this would ever come to an end. Dan i know people online are talking about how that could be a rich country but i wondering how did rents get so high in the first place that people couldnt afford homes glenn take a look at this you tube comment we just got from Donnie Barnes he says is there a reason why rent is so high in ireland like property tax insurance or maintenance if you could bring those costs down more people could afford the rent going can you comment on that. Yeah i mean we have we have i mean ive got a dear friend. He was you know some call when you brought in a. Percent rent cop last year so the idea was that people cant raise the rent on the more than forty landlords because as you know its not very regulated in this country the landlords are not allowed to raise rents by more than four percent in two years and just before it was implemented every one not every landlord im not going to say thats thats not fair but a lot of landlords hike the rental by fifty my mate fifty five percent sure he was just like he was like you called me and says i think i may i think on actually i was shocked he said i think going. To lose me anyhow and and he said but you know. The middle class fella i know ive got me i know of a man calls and i know im kind of protected but this is shock and this to my prejudice is a huge blow now if he wasnt in a position and he was another guy like the loud we just saw you know youd be straight youre not straight into homelessness by these massive costs weve got to youve got a very very good work one of the highest in the o. E. C. D. For low wages we have soaring house prices so what does that leave you if youre the average industrial wage is remain are im going to and the you know the low wages and youve got a stream lee rising prices around prices youre you know whats leading to a housing emergency i was really interested you know its a catastrophe or you know i think it was do or do use a few minutes ago. But why did i was wrong and just say it was actually a National Tragedy thank you thank you i dont want to miss dont misquote you know. But why do why doesnt the government just call it what it is which is a national emergency. Well i think to go back to the tweet that was submitted to us i think its a very interesting question particular from an International Point of view as to why house prices are going up so much for my rent is going up so much and i think one of the things that weve seen when it comes to Housing Assistance is that you know. Municipal authorities the local councils are effectively having to admit defeat and say that theyll pay effectively any market rents right now we see that in our office regularly because the market rent is running by fifteen twenty percent per annum in places that are outside the area of a rent cap if you like and there are landlords claiming youre absolutely right or acting in an unscrupulous way and are working around the rent cost where at all possible for example there is an exemption if you refurbishment to a house. You can then circumvent the four percent range because we see people knowing that we had i gave them my office where people are painting a kitchen and claiming that substantial furbish meant there. Was no landlord theres a landlord i know exists in one second theres a landlord i know who i got and somebody i know well and its kind of depressing he said to me i wont take an irish residence i will not bring them in they know the right they wanted they know this and new on top of the one ill take in brazilians because they know that theyll just pay their rent and showed up i mean thats worth touch thats the country were living in and what heartbreak can buy is the idea that this is right this is wrought upon the irish by the irish when im not saying in every case just to pick up glenn on something you said earlier you raise the issue of the government needing to declare an emergency you know on that issue take a listen to this video comment we got from a young man named justin who was homeless as of two months ago. More names to some cases on twenty four years old in the past seven years are hard to claim you say i was homeless when two separate occasions the fourth of which. I spent a year sleeping on the street to g. P. O. On a common street more recently i spent all right in Hospitals Program we have babies being born into homelessness they are forced to have relief is in homelessness but yet the government wont be clear statement made and see if the government. State limits your opens up the floodgates for support from the european union. For invigorate to build an open industry so i know were running out of time but if you could just answer this in thirty seconds should the government of ireland seek assistance from the e. U. Well were already treating this like an emergency is the reality were already you know youre not no no youre as automation european is better than i do and its all the deck there is all right now you know. One point three dollars gold and keeps on saying you know what i dont recall and its not for lack of will pardon me going right over there. Its like all of all you hear is the government flying were in recovery that nature everyone spending its great you know it all you want like. Should be measured not not on how many millionaires it has and not on how Many Investment Companies are in a but how it treats its most vulnerable and where really were its quite a shameful right now to be honest but im going to let anybody have another go you know mohamed im going to ask you how it is color sation i know theres so much more to discuss we have to do it on hash tag a. J. Stream our thanks to Glen Hansard Erica plumbing and no rock for joining us of course to our community for pitching the story in the first place and for being part of this conversation online with hash tag it in stride. Witness documentaries that open your eyes at this time on aljazeera history is so often told through the eyes of leaders but in im with star india just thirty kilometers from the border with pakistan this old building is being transformed into a new museum malika here is the driving force behind amritsar is Partition Museum its really shocking because if you think about the fact that within a few years of nine eleven happening on nine eleven museum was there and they are now numerous holocaust museums is not beautiful Apartheid Museum so countries around the world have walked to memorialize these events that have shaped them by dition is not about the political events that led up to partition its about the impact on each person who went through it its really important that we highlight the stories of humanity hopefully one outcome on this would be that we remember our shared humanity and the shared history. Facing the reality your president said that there would be a complete audit a hundred percent audit that order hasnt happened getting to the heart of the matter so are you saying that the future of the. Story. On talk to how does iraq at this time. Yes vote and i session referendum the government in iraq kurdish region refuses to hand over