Homelessness passes 7,000 for first time

Focus Ireland has said new Government figures reporting that, for the first time, over 7,000 people are homeless shows the crisis is deepening.

The Homeless Report for December by the Department of Housing found that 7,148 were homeless nationwide in the week of December 18-25.

“It is terrible to see over 7,000 people (including over 2,500 children) homeless for the first time on record,” said Focus Ireland chief executive Ashley Balbirnie.

“This is wrong and totally unacceptable. We worked to support over 230 families to move out of homelessness into secure homes (in partnership with the DRHE and local authorities) in the first 10 months of last year. However, as these new figures show there is still much work to be done if we are to end this homeless crisis.”

The bulk of the 4,643 adult homeless were based in Dublin (3,162) at the time of the report. It was a similar story for the 2,505 homeless children, of which 2,096 were in the capital.

In a statement accompanying its figures in the report, the department admitted there had been significant rises in rates of homelessness in recent times and said the root cause “is the supply shortage across the housing sector, which in turn is a result of the recent economic collapse and the associated damage to the construction sector”.

“However it is important to note that much is being done to address homelessness and to secure sustainable tenancies for homeless households.

"For example, housing authorities assisted in more than 2,000 sustainable exits from homeless in the first three-quarters of 2016. While final details are awaited, it is anticipated that 2,700 sustainable exits will have been achieved in 2016.”