Student activist group Take Back Trinity (TBT) dropped a banner from House Six earlier today in a call for students to engage with the housing movement and partake in the National Homeless and Housing Coalition march on Saturday, before it was removed by security.
In a press statement, TBT outlined: “The housing crisis is only getting worse, and we need to build momentum before the elections to put pressure on politicians and elected representatives to take action”.
The group noted that students are “alienated from how they are affected by this”, and that “we deserve to be angry and to take action”.
The release also noted that “connecting student struggles with the wider housing crisis has proved powerful before”, recalling student involvement in Take Back the City protests last summer, which the group says “changed the narrative around housing in Ireland”.
On Saturday, students will gather at three meeting points before joining the national march. These are the GPO, The Housing Agency, and City Hall.
Last October, over 3,000 students took to the streets in a Raise the Roof march to demand affordable student accommodation and protest the housing crisis. Speaking to Trinity News on the march, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Shane De Rís outlined that “students are suffering as a result of the crisis and we see it worsening each day”.
Ireland’s official homeless count is currently estimated at around 10,000, with many activists estimating that the actual rate of homelessness is much higher given that the official numbers do not account for people sleeping on the streets, in cars, tents, or on couches.
