An MLC has received unanimous support in Tynwald for her maiden motion calling for action to tackle homelessness to be given greater urgency.

In a rousing speech, Kirstie Morphet urged members to back her call to prioritise accommodation as the ‘cornerstone of social justice’ and to ensure ‘no Manx resident is left without a safe and secure place to call home’.

A homelessness strategy approved by Tynwald in December 2023 aims to ensure everyone meeting a certain residency criteria has a legal right to housing.

But Mrs Morphet said this needed to be prioritised and that the timescale proposed in the strategy to bring forward legislation by 2029 did not reflect the current urgent need and should be fast-tracked to June 2027.

She told Tynwald: ‘This motion isn’t about bureaucracy, it’s about people - it’s about the family in temporary accommodation tonight, the young person sofa surfing, the older resident facing eviction from their rented flat.

‘It’s about dignity, safety and the basic human right to a home.

‘We’ve agreed the strategy and the need for legislation - what remains is the will to act with urgency.’

Mrs Morphet said that to do otherwise we would be trapped in ‘reactive crisis management’ which was ‘expensive, ineffective and unjust’.

Accelerating the legislation to June 2027 was ‘achievable and necessary’, she said, providing a ‘safeguard for the most vulnerable and an investment in fairer, stronger Isle of Man’.

Mrs Morphet says her own personal experiences as a social worker had prompted her call for the legislation to be fast-tracked.

She was a social worker immediately prior to being elected to the Legislative Council in March last year.

The island's only overnight shelter closed in 2022.

A public consultation was launched last month, which will be used to shape policy proposals underpinning a Homelessness Prevention and Support Act.

Deadline for submissions is February 25.