IT’S BEEN OVER two weeks since Home Sweet Home, a campaign working to end homelessness in Ireland, took over Apollo House in Dublin.
Since then, the building has been used to house 38 homeless people and reignited the conversation around homelessness in Ireland. Thousands have volunteered to assist with the campaign and over €166,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe campaign.
Among the famous names to lend their support to the campaign have been Glen Hansard, Jim Sheridan, Hozier, Kodaline and Damien Dempsey.
And now it looks as though the campaign is going worldwide with several Hollywood names tweeting about the campaign in recent days.
A few days ago, director Judd Apatow tweeted this encouraging message asking followers to support the work of Home Sweet Home.
It’s likely that Apatow became aware of the organisation through his acquaintance Glen Hansard. You may remember when the pair participated in a singalong in Grogans last summer.
Two days ago, actor Edward Norton, who you know and love from films like Fight Club and Birdman, shared the campaign video and commended Hansard and Sheridan for “standing up for their less fortunate countrymen”.
And yesterday, singer Josh Groban echoed Norton’s sentiments, describing Hansard and Sheridan as “good men”
Ironically, the tweets come just days after the Chief Executive of Dublin City Council Owen Keegan criticised the occupation of Apollo House and claimed that Irish people were “suckers for celebrity endorsements”.
This morning, Home Sweet Home released a statement calling on the government and local councils to meet their list of demands and ensure that everyone currently housed in Apollo House is in safe and secure accommodation after January 11th.
