Twice as many people entering homelessness as exiting, Oireachtas committee told

A shortfall in available Housing Assistance Payment tenancies is hampering efforts to reverse homelessness figures, the Oireachtas housing committee heard.

A “massive gap” exists between the number of people exiting homelessness and the number of people entering it, which is driving up the numbers to current record levels, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Dublin Region Homeless Executive director Mary Hayes said that twice as many people are coming in as exiting and that a shortfall in available Housing Assistance Payment (Hap) tenancies is hampering efforts to reverse these trends.

“What’s driving the increase in the overall number is the fact that people are not exiting,” she said. “And that’s particularly down to the fact that we would’ve had much higher numbers moving to Hap in previous years.” 

The Oireachtas housing committee on Tuesday hosted a range of speakers for an update on the homelessness situation, including Alone, the National One Parent Family Alliance, and Dublin Town.

It comes as the most recent figures show a record number of people were homeless in January, as charities criticised the “shockingly normal” increase to 9,504 adults and 4,027 children.

Cork City

In an opening statement, Cork City Council assistant CEO Brian Geaney said that the number of families recorded as homeless in the city has fallen 44% in the last six years.

“While there are currently 55 families in emergency accommodation, a total 184 households exited emergency accommodation in 2023,” he said.

However, the number of single adults who are homeless in Cork has increased year-on-year since 2020, he said.

Cork Simon Community said that while it was also important to acknowledge the progress made in addressing homelessness, the situation remained “stark” at national and regional levels.

“In Cork Simon Community, we are busier than ever,” said CEO Dermot Kavanagh. “Last year, we had an average of 75 people per night in our shelter and nightlight emergency accommodation services compared to 64 the previous year (up 17%).

If all the long-term homeless people were housed tomorrow, it would free up 42 beds, more than sufficient to end the need to sleep rough in Cork City.” 

Cork Simon also said that 17 people availing of its services died last year, compared to 10 in 2022 and 15 in 2021. In many cases, the deaths were related to drugs, alcohol, or chronic ill health, “all of which is related to coping with a lifetime of trauma”.

Cork City Council said that its figures showed that eight people accessing its services died last year, up from six in 2022.

Under questioning by Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould, the council’s director of housing Niall Ó Donnabháin said a “significant focus” when sourcing emergency accommodation for families is how close they are to children’s schools.

Mr Ó Donnabháin also said Cork City Council aims to build on the Repair and Lease programme to provide sustainable accommodation, after it was put to him by Fine Gael senator John Cummins that the number of homes brought into use via the scheme in Cork was very low compared to Waterford, where it has been hailed a success.