Overcrowding and domestic violence account for over 40% of Dublin's homeless families

Other findings included that more than 60% of new families presenting to EA services in the Dublin Region in 2019 were lone parents, with more than 93% female. File photo: Yui Mok/PA

More than 40% of families who presented as homeless in Dublin cited family breakdown, overcrowding and domestic violence as a reason for entering emergency accommodation.

The finding is contained in new research looking at the profile of families who entered homelessness in 2019 — and comes as a new record-high number of people were in emergency accommodation last month.

The return to pre-pandemic levels of homelessness comes as the report, carried out for the Dublin Region Homeless Executive by Zack Matthews, found a range of issues among families who entered emergency accommodation, with one common theme in terms of the high prevalence of notices to quit.

According to the study, a total of 1,022 families presented to homeless services and entered emergency accommodation for the first time in the Dublin Region in 2019, a slight decrease compared to the figure in 2018. 

In addition, between June 2014 and December 2019, a total of 4,992 families presented to EA services in the Dublin Region.

"The most common form of Notice of Termination (NOT) given to families presenting to EA in 2019 were due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property (34.6% of all family NOT cases in 2019)," it said.

"Family circumstances such as relationship breakdown, overcrowding and domestic violence accounted for 43% of new family presentations in 2019.

From 2016 to 2019, the two most common reasons for presentation amongst families in the Dublin Region were NOTs and family circumstances.

"Around 12% of families reported other miscellaneous reasons for presenting, such as having no income source, newly arriving to Ireland or having been recently released from a facility (such as prison or State care)."

Other findings included that more than 60% of new families presenting to EA services in the Dublin Region in 2019 were lone parents, with more than 93% female.

Also, more than one in five couples presenting to EA (22%) were mixed-citizenship households and it said there had been "a notable increase in the number of Non-Irish citizens entering EA in recent years", with the proportion of EU citizens newly presenting to EA doubling from 10% in 2016 to 22% in 2019.

Of the 1,022 families presenting to EA for the first time in the Dublin Region in 2019, 53% exited homelessness into a secured tenancy within a year of their first presentation, with more than 70% of all family households exiting to a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancy.

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However, the situation with notices to quit is now far more severe than was the case in 2019. A total of 10,568 were homeless in July of this year, including 3,137 children, marking a 30% increase in the past 12 months. Latest data from the Residential Tenancies Board show 2,798 notices to quit were issued in the first half of the year.

The main driver of the current homelessness crisis is single adults, particularly younger males. However, there were still 1,423 families homeless last month.

According to the 2019 study, the estimated probability of a family exiting emergency accommodation within a year of presentation fell with each additional dependent present in the household.

"The estimated probability of a family with one dependent exiting EA was found to be 57%, while a family with four dependents has an estimated exit probability of 42%," it said.