Fifth monthly rise in homelessness sparks call for pandemic-style response

Focus Ireland pointed out that there are 2,334 more people homeless than a year ago, a 29% increase. File photo

The number of people homeless has risen once again, this time to 10,325, with a 41% increase in child homelessness in just a year and warnings that the cost-of-living crisis could push more families into emergency accommodation.

The latest monthly report issued by the Department of Housing shows there were 7,297 adults and 3,028 children in emergency accommodation in May, up from 10,049 in April. Two-thirds of homeless adults are male and more than half are aged 25 to 44, with another 17% aged between 18 and 24.

The data also shows that 64% of all those in emergency accommodation in May were Irish, with 22% either from the European Economic Area or UK, and the remainder from elsewhere.

The largest number of people in homelessness are in Dublin (71%), followed by the South West (7%), which includes 459 people in Cork city and county, and then the mid-east counties around Dublin, of Kildare, Wicklow and Meath (6%).

Of the 1,366 families in emergency accommodation last month, 53% were single-parent families, and 3,028 children in total are homeless.

May marks the latest monthly increase in homelessness and the report comes in a week when preliminary Census data shows 5.1m people living in the country, but with insufficient housing stock and more than 166,000 properties lying vacant.

Focus Ireland pointed out that there are 2,334 more people homeless than a year ago, a 29% increase. It also said child homelessness has also increased by an alarming 41% since this time last year.

Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said: “As well as facing the housing and homeless crisis we are now facing one of the worst periods of inflation in living memory. 

In addition to rocketing rents vulnerable people nationwide are struggling to pay their petrol energy bills and many families can barely put food on their table. 

"If urgent action is not taken by the government, we will undoubtedly see these figures rise in the coming months."

Focus Ireland welcomed recent moves by the government to expand Housing Assistance Payment [HAP] levels but said more needed to be done to address a deepening crisis.

Such is the level of concern, the Simon Communities of Ireland have called on the Government to treat homelessness with the urgency applied during the Covid pandemic.

Noting that the number of people in emergency homeless accommodation has risen again for the fifth consecutive month, Wayne Stanley, Head of Policy and Communication at the Simon Communities of Ireland, said: “The numbers today confirm again that homelessness is back to pre-Covid levels. Our own Locked Out of the Market reports show that a lack of properties to rent at affordable rates is a major driver of this.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

"CSO figures released yesterday set out that there are now 166,752 vacant homes across the country. It is unacceptable to have so many vacant homes while there are 10325 people in homelessness. The entire country is plagued with rising rents and a lack of supply. 

"Tackling vacancy provides an opportunity to increase our social housing stock quickly; something we desperately need to do to support the over 10,000 men, women and children experiencing homelessness to secure a home.” 

David Carroll, Chief Executive of Depaul, said: "We are calling for targeted and immediate measures in terms of HAP reform and the provision of one-bed units for single women and men.

“While we welcomed the recent announcement of an increase to HAP payments, rent prices are through the roof and about 90% of the market is unavailable to those on HAP, resulting in people paying top-ups that quickly become unmanageable.”