No-fault evictions force over 100 families into homelessness in final three months of 2023

An Oireachtas committee this week heard of the damaging impact of homelessness on children. File photo

More than 100 families in Ireland became homeless in the last three months of 2023 due to a no-fault eviction, new figures show.

The latest report from the Department of Housing shows that no-fault evictions were key reasons why families presented as homeless in October, November and December last year, with family breakdown also a major factor cited.

It comes as an Oireachtas committee this week heard of the damaging impact on children, especially, from long-term homelessness.

According to the latest figures, for January 2024, homelessness is at a record high in Ireland. In the last week of that month, there were 13,531 people in emergency accommodation. This included 4,027 children.

Charities criticised the “shockingly normal” increase recorded and described it as “disheartening”. The Opposition has continuously urged the Government to re-introduce the no-fault eviction ban, with the Social Democrats and People Before Profit repeating these calls after the publication of January’s figures.

Separately, this new data from the Department of Housing shows that 191 families in Dublin and 26 families in Cork/Kerry presented as homeless in Q4 of 2023. 

In Dublin, 58 of these families were made homeless due to a no-fault eviction while this figure stood at seven in Cork/Kerry. A further 10 of these families in Cork/Kerry presented as homeless following a breakdown either with a partner or a parent.

In the fourth quarter, 116 families were classified as “repeat presentations” to homeless services in Cork/Kerry. Of the 105 families in homeless accommodation on the last night of Q4 in the region, 25 had been in this accommodation for a year or more.

Impact on children

At the Oireachtas Housing Committee earlier this week, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould raised concerns at the impact that homelessness has on children, in particular.

He said he had been contacted by two teachers who were “very concerned” at seeing pupils who had previously done well in school then “go backwards” because their family had entered emergency accommodation.

Louise Bayliss, campaign co-ordinator with Focus Ireland and co-founder of Spark (Single Parents Acting for the Rights of Kids), said a huge issue is that families can be placed in accommodation that is far away from their own communities.

“If their parent who’s in employment, especially as a lone parent, have to give up their job and that makes it harder to exit homelessness," she said. "And the second thing is the child having to commute two bus rides away, not being able to have playdates with their friends, not being able to have proper cooked meals.” 

Ms Bayliss said that the housing legislation that relates to homelessness was devised in 1988, at a time when there was no family homelessness and child homelessness.

“I think we need to urgently bring it to the reality of there being at least 4,000 children in emergency accommodation at the moment," she said. “We need to recognise those needs and to have a child support worker available for every child.”