3,000 children now homeless as crisis worsens

The number of homeless children has topped 3,000 for the first time as the number of families living in emergency accommodation continues to rise.

The Simon Community has called on the Rebuilding Ireland review to be urgently published while the Peter McVerry Trust says significantly more money must be allocated in next month’s budget.

The most recent figures released by the Department of Housing show that 8,270 people, including 3,048 children, were registered as living in emergency and temporary accommodation during the last week of August.

The figures show there were 1,442 families living in accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs in August, up from 1,429 in July.

Responding to the figures Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said: “The trend, unfortunately, is up nationally but we have seen progress in Dublin where we have 32 families less in homelessness than in August. We need to do more. But it’s good to see that sign of progress.”

While the number of family presentations nationally in August has increased by 13 overall, the number of homeless families in Dublin has fallen by 32.

However, there was a notable increase in homeless single-parent families in the capital which jumped from 733 to 770.

Mr Murphy said more family hubs would be opened across the country and pointed to the additional €10m recently announced for this on top of the €35m already committed.

He said 50% of the people who have availed of the Mater Dei hub in Dublin since it opened in June have moved on to permanent sustainable accommodation,

“Others haven’t because with families, each has individual needs, some need tailored solutions and it will take longer than that,” he said.

“But if you look at our numbers for building next year, about one-fifth to one-quarter of the new homes to be built next year in this country will be social housing.”

CEO of Peter McVerry Trust Pat Doyle said the increase in the numbers of people experiencing homelessness calls into sharp focus the need for urgent and effective measures to prevent people from losing their homes.

Simon Communities spokesperson, Niamh Randall said: “The total figure nationally is up 25%, so what we are seeing is a small drop in Dublin and of course any drop is to be welcomed, but I think what this is really pointing to is that this is a nationwide crisis and that we are seeing the impact on every region in the country.

“So what it really means is we need to be looking at action at a local, regional and national level.”

Focus Ireland welcomed the drop in the number of homeless families in Dublin .

However, the charity warned that the crisis is still deepening as family homelessness rises outside of Dublin and the total number of people homeless nationwide hit a new record total of 8,270.