One in five homeless adults on census night were in work 

Census 2022 figures show almost one-third of homeless people in Ireland were under the age of 20.

One in five homeless adults in Ireland were in work on census night in 2022, and one in 10 have a third-level education, the Central Statistics Office has said.

The CSO’s latest publication digging into data collected on April 3, 2022, for the last census has also shown almost one-third of homeless people in Ireland were under the age of 20.

While more than 10,300 people were counted as homeless on the night of the census, that figure has risen significantly since then. According to the latest figures for the end of March, there were 13,866 people living in emergency accommodation.

However, the CSO’s statistics provide a deeper insight into Ireland’s homeless population than the monthly publication by the Department of Housing.

This was the third time a “comprehensive” approach was used to counting the homeless population for the census.

“The provision of homeless services operates in a changing environment in respect of both the types of services available and the people availing of them,” the CSO said.

“The primary way in which census data on homelessness was generated was through identifying people as being homeless if they spent census night in accommodation identified prior to the census as providing shelter specifically for homeless people rather than by self-identification.

“People who spent census night in this accommodation were included in the count, and the information they provided on their census forms is presented in this publication. People who were sleeping rough were also included in the count, as were people who spent census night in Tusla domestic violence refuges.” 

According to the figures, the average age of people counted as homeless was 29.5 years, compared to 38.8 years for the general population. Furthermore, more than 80% of homeless people aged 15 years and over were single in 2022 compared to 43% of the general population.

CSO statistician Sheelagh Bonham said: “There were almost 1,400 homeless families in census 2022, accounting for more than 5,000 people. This included 711 one-parent families with children and 576 couples with children. Nearly 1,600 people were in families with four or more children.

“Among the one-parent families, almost 300 had one child while 210 had two children. There were 166 couples with two children and 162 with four or more children.” 

It wasn’t possible to capture data for all the persons recorded as homeless so the CSO had to opt for alternative means of recording these factors. Using other data sources, the CSO found one in five homeless people were at work in 2022.

Almost 1,000 people were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability. This accounted for 13% of the homeless population aged 15 years and over compared with 5% of the general population.

The same proportion (13%) had no formal or primary education only, compared to 10% of the general population. Furthermore, 622 people, or 11% of the homeless population who had finished their full time education, were educated to third level. This compared to 45% of the general population.