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LAST UPDATE | 27 Jun
A RECORD NUMBER of people in the State are officially recognised as homeless as the latest figures reveal 15,747 people were living in emergency accommodation in May.
This is an increase of 167 people on the 15,580 people recorded as homeless in April.
The figure includes 4,844 children – some 69 more than last month.
The statistics do not include people rough sleeping, refugees, asylum seekers, individuals in domestic violence shelters, or those experiencing “hidden homelessness”, such as sleeping in cars, on couches, or other unsuitable living conditions.
The figures are taken from the week of 19-25 May
Of the adults accessing emergency accommodation, 7,734 were in Co Dublin.
Some 655 adults were in Cork, 505 were in Limerick, and 236 were in Galway.
Meanwhile, there were 3,589 children living in emergency accommodation in Dublin.
There were also 2,273 accessing emergency accommodation.
Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said the “government’s current approach to homelessness is failing”.
“There needs to be far more urgency in the Government’s response to help end this terrible human crisis,” he added.
Dennigan also said that while this should be a “carefree time for children, the harsh reality for many children who are homeless is that they are living in family hubs or hotels without anywhere suitable to play or have friends over”.
“We need more direct action by Government to end this crisis,” said Dennigan.
“The Department must stop talking about a ‘Housing Plan’ and commit to a “Housing and Homelessness Plan’.”
Dublin Simon Community has called on Taoiseach Michéal Martin to “bring stability to an unstable market for those in precarious rental agreements and those with nowhere to call home”.
“A housing crisis may be on the political agenda, but its most devastating consequence — homelessness — remains overlooked,” added Catherine Kenny, CEO of Dublin Simon Community.
Elsewhere, the Salvation Army warned that the full impact of homelessness on children “will only become clear once they reach adulthood”.
“The full impact of the shortfall of housing, accommodation and support will come to light as the next generation moves into adulthood,” said Erene Williamson, The Salvation Army’s Homeless Services lead.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin accused the government of “failing children”.
He remarked that since 2014, “there has been a 450% increase in child homelessness”.
“The dramatic increase in child homelessness over the last decade is the direct result of the failure of government to deliver a sufficient volume of social and affordable homes,” said Ó Broin.
“It is the result of government failing to prevent families with children from becoming homeless and a result of the government’s failure to get families with children out of emergency accommodation in a timely manner.”
Meanwhile, the Social Democrats described it as a “shameful milestone”.
Its housing spokesperson Rory Hearne remarked that the State “could be facing a national redress scheme for children who have been in emergency accommodation”.
“The government knows the deeply damaging impact any length of time in homelessness has on young people, yet it is not doing everything it can to prevent children from becoming homeless,” he added.
Hearne called on the government to “maintain rent caps between tenancies, and extend the no fault evictions ban to all tenancies”.
Labour’s Housing Spokesperson Conor Sheehan meanwhile said it “beggars belief” that Ireland is running an €8 billion surplus while failing to keep children out of homelessness.
“This Government has normalised child homelessness,” said Sheehan.
“That this is happening in a country with an €8 billion surplus is nothing short of shameful.”
Hr described the figures as a political and moral failing and added that “only the State has the deep pockets required to deliver housing at the scale and speed that’s necessary”.
“The current approach – one that continues to kowtow to developers – has failed,” she Sheehan.
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