Impact of homelessness on criminal justice system to be examined

The figure of 517 people in prison in 2022 who had an address of 'no fixed abode' was 178 more than the previous year.

The Department of Justice will investigate the impact of homelessness on the criminal justice system in Ireland, in the first major study of its kind for 20 years.

It wants to develop policy responses to help support those who are homeless and in prison custody in Ireland, as well as understand the scale of homelessness among those in prison and under probation supervision in the community nationwide.

In tender documents, the department said this issue presents “deep-rooted challenges, both socially and structurally, particularly affecting individuals released from prison or under Probation Service supervision who struggle to secure stable and suitable housing”.

“This critical issue not only obstructs the path to rehabilitation but significantly raises the risk of returning to criminal behaviour,” it said.

It said the last in-depth research in this area was conducted in 2005, and the need to update this evidence is “widely acknowledged”.

There is currently no unified national strategy to cater to the housing needs of those entangled with the criminal justice system in Ireland.

In 2022, homeless people accounted for almost one in 10 convicted persons sent to prisons in Ireland, according to Irish Prison Service data. The figure of 517 people for 2022 who had an address of “no fixed abode” was 178 more than the previous year.

In that same year, the Irish Times reported that 113 people presented to emergency homeless services on the day of their release from prison in the first six months of that year.

The Department of Justice said a recent policy review for prison and penal reform called for renewed focus on this issue.

“It proposes new research aimed at evaluating the success of previous interventions, pinpointing systemic hurdles to securing appropriate accommodation, and developing evidence-based recommendations for policy and programme enhancements,” it said.

In conjunction with the Irish Prison Service, HSE, Department of Housing and others, it said it wants the new research project to develop policies to overcome the hurdles facing the homeless population interacting with the criminal justice system.

It will include understanding the scale of homelessness among people in prison custody across the country, including factors such as sex, ethnicity, disability and age groups.

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It won’t involve those detained in Oberstown Children Detention Campus but research participants will be asked about their childhood experiences of homelessness and the criminal justice system.

The research will also look to understand barriers and opportunities for securing suitable accommodation, as well as the impact of homelessness on reoffending incidents. It will need to provide a series of "key findings" and create recommendations for moving forward.

It is expected to begin in the last quarter of this year and will take 12 months to complete. 

According to the latest Department of Housing figures, there were 14,303 people accessing emergency accommodation in Ireland at the end of June. This included 9,899 single adults and 4,404 children.