Father Paul Byrne obituary

Paul Byrne’s warm personality, as well as his humanity, integrity and tenacity in advocating the cause of poor and disadvantaged people, won him many friends and admirers

My friend Father Paul Byrne, who has died aged 86, made the fight against homelessness and bad housing the focus of his social mission.

An ordained priest from Ireland, in the mid-1960s he was regional director for Birmingham of the Catholic Housing Aid Society and director of Birmingham Family Housing Association. Then, in 1969, he became the first director of a newly created organisation, Shac (the London Housing Aid Centre), which was set up to help people who were struggling to find homes.

Unlike traditional housing agencies, which concentrated on single-tenure solutions such as home-ownership or council housing, Shac, of which I was also director from 1976 to 1986, tried to identify the most appropriate solutions to individual circumstances.

It helped significant numbers of medium- to low-income families to buy a home of their own and explored options for securing housing in new and expanding towns, such as Stevenage and Milton Keynes.

Shac also provided advocacy for those, including homeless people and those threatened with imminent homelessness, who found themselves unfairly refused access to council housing.

This comprehensive approach not only helped many thousands of families in need but also provided a wealth of information about where current policies were failing to address needs.

As a result Shac was able to play an important role influencing the development of policy, including the introduction of the 1977 Housing (Homeless Persons) Act.

Paul himself was appointed to the board of the Housing Corporation (now Homes England) and other bodies advising government on housing policy. The importance of his contribution was recognised when he was appointed OBE in 1976.

Born in Dublin to Lavinia (nee Nightingale) and John Byrne, who were both bakers, Paul went to Synge Street secondary school, then studied for the priesthood at the city’s Belcamp College, followed by a degree in art and philosophy at University College Dublin. He was ordained as a priest in 1958 and the following year began teaching at Belcamp College , where he stayed until 1965.

After his move to Birmingham and directorship of Shac, in 1976, Byrne returned to Dublin, where he was vicar general of the Oblates until 1982. From 1980 to 1987 he was secretary general of the Catholic Major Religious Superiors, then, following a year’s sabbatical at Berkeley University, California, he was provincial of the Anglo-Irish Province of the Oblates, until 1994.

His final roles were director of the Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants (1994-2003) and director of the Oblate Missionary Development Office from 2003 until his retirement in 2016.

Paul’s warm personality, as well as his humanity, integrity and tenacity in advocating the cause of the poor and disadvantaged, won him many friends and admirers.

He is survived by two brothers, Tony and David, and his sister, Carmel.