Children ‘to grow up in emergency housing’

A generation of Irish children could grow up in emergency accommodation because of a new wave of families becoming homeless due to the housing crisis.

Children’s charity Barnardos yesterday claimed the current housing crisis could become a “full-blown epidemic” amid stories of families living in hotels, emergency accommodation and children having to switch schools because their families have to move areas due to rising rents.

The problem is most acute in Dublin but Barnardos said clients at its centres in Cork, Limerick, and Thurles were similarly affected, with the charity’s CEO Fergus Finlay claiming the lack of state support was contributing to the problem.