August sees third consecutive monthly rise in homelessness

Director of advocacy at Focus Ireland, Mike Allen, said: "The State must take a far stronger role if we are to fix our broken housing system."

The number of people homeless across the country has risen for the third month in a row, as the latest figures show 8,212 adults and children without a home.

Data from the Department of Housing, published today, recorded 6,023 adults and 2,189 children as being homeless during August. It says the total has risen from the 8,132 people counted as homeless by the Government in July.

The rise has prompted warnings from charities working in the sector, concerned that the country's homeless crisis will only worsen in the months to come amid rising rents and an increasing number of evictions.

According to the data, published monthly by the Department of Housing, 953 families are homeless in Ireland. More than 4,000 homeless adults are currently in Dublin.

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Earlier this month, the Government said that it remains committed to ending homelessness here by 2030.

Director of advocacy at Focus Ireland, Mike Allen, said there is still little detail about how the Government plans to reach that target.

Mr Allen said Focus Ireland is "committed to working in partnership with Government towards achieving the commitment to end homelessness and there has been considerable progress made over the last 18 months, particularly in reducing the number of families homeless".

But he warned: "The Government has since decided to not continue many of the policies that were so effective in helping to cut the number of people homeless by 2000 since early 2020.

We are very worried that the homeless crisis will continue to deepen in the coming months due to rocketing rents and a rising number of evictions unless urgent action is taken.

— Focus Ireland (@FocusIreland) September 24, 2021

"We fear this will now leave many more families and individuals at risk of homelessness this winter as the housing crisis deepens."

"There is much more still to be done across these areas as the State must take a far stronger role if we are to fix our broken housing system."

According to the latest figures, there are 984 adults between the ages of 18-24 currently homeless.

"We know that young people have carried much of the burden of the Covid crisis in many ways, and it is now clear, with the student accommodation crisis and the new record level of youth homelessness, that many young people have been pushed beyond the margins," Mr Allen said.