The number of homeless people in the State has reached a new high of 14,159, including 4,316 children, according to the latest figures from the Department of Housing.
The plight of children in homelessness, with the school summer holidays starting, was described by one charity as “truly heartbreaking” with another saying the emergency accommodation system was “at crisis point”.
The overall figure, published on Friday, covers the week from May 20th to 26th and represents a 13.8 per cent increase in the numbers in emergency accommodation in a year. The total does not include rough-sleepers, those in domestic violence refuges or the more than 2,000 homeless asylum seekers.
The department’s monthly homelessness report shows there were 6,436 single adults in emergency accommodation, a 10 per cent increase since May of last year.
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In Dublin, which the largest homeless population, there were 10,291 people, including 3,233 children in 1,464 families, in emergency accommodation, as well as 4,534 single adults. This is up from 9,160 people, including 2,802 children in 1,295 families, last may.
Focus Ireland chief executive Pat Dennigan said: “Homelessness creates huge pain for everyone involved, with children suffering the most. It is truly heartbreaking that when many schools are closing for the summer holidays 4,316 children don’t have a home.
“This is an appalling situation that, without proper support, can have lifelong consequences. As a society, we need to take meaningful actions that will bring about change.”
Wayne Stanley, executive director of the Simon Communities Ireland, urged against a “sense of fatalism” as homelessness figures continued upwards.
“The next six months is an important window of opportunity in the fight against homelessness. Making progress ... even getting to the point where homelessness is short-term and quickly solvable, is possible,” he said.
Dublin Simon chief executive Catherine Kenny said the emergency accommodation system was “at crisis point”.
“Yet again we see an unrelenting rise in the figures of people seeking emergency accommodation ... in our capital city. Coupled with last week’s spring rough sleeper count increase of 54 per cent in the capital over the last 12 months, the steady influx of individuals without the opportunity to transition out of the system is at crisis point.
“The current situation is unsustainable and requires immediate, co-ordinated action from all stakeholders to reduce the pressure on the emergency accommodation system and support those in desperate need of permanent housing.”
Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said supporting people in homelessness was a “priority” for him and the Government.
“We know, unfortunately, there will be people who enter into emergency accommodation for an array of reasons. And it is our job to ensure that they spend the least amount of time possible in emergency accommodation and importantly that they are exited into safe, secure accommodation,” he said.
“We continue to work closely with the local authorities and the NGOs to do just this and during quarter one this year, more than 800 adults exited emergency accommodation by way of a tenancy being created, with over 1,330 prevented from entering emergency accommodation in the first instance - an increase of 20 per cent on the number of exits and an increase of 71.2 per cent on the number of preventions achieved in the same period last year.”
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said: “Month after month these figures rise but the Government refuses to make any changes to its failing housing plan.
“This Government has neither the will nor the policies to tackle the escalating homeless crisis. How could they? They are the cause of that crisis. Only a change of government and a new housing plan that prioritises ending homelessness through increasing and accelerating the delivery of social and affordable homes can bring an end of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gaels housing and homelessness crisis.”
Social Democrats housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan said new Taoiseach Simon Harris was “continuing the appalling record of his predecessors”.
“They are clearly out of ideas and the thousands of people without a roof over their head are paying the consequences,” he said. “We need to be building thousands of social and affordable homes every year so that individuals and families have a chance of securing a long-term stable home.”
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