More than 10,000 homeless for seventh consecutive month
The number of homeless people in Ireland has remained above the 10,000 mark for the seventh consecutive month.
The latest figures from the Department of Housing show that there were 10,338 people in emergency accommodation in August. It is the second-highest number ever recorded, exceeded only by the numbers in emergency accommodation in April of this year.
Of the 10,338 people in emergency accommodation, 3,848 were children - an increase of 70 on the previous month. The figures have been described as "shocking" by homelessness charities.
Homeless figures surpassed the 10,000 mark for the first time in March and have remained above that ever since.
Adult men outnumber the amount of homeless women by more than 1,000 and Dublin remains the worst-hit area of the country, with 1,280 homeless families - including 2,850 children - in some form of emergency accommodation. Of these, 729 are single-parent families.
Reacting to the figures, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy conceded that the Government has more to do: "We have to continue to build more homes, the fundamental solution for people who are in housing insecurity is more homes. We are seeing more than 2,000 homes starting on site now every month across the country and that is welcome."
He said these figures will increase over the coming months and into next year.
In recent weeks, a report by the European Commission criticised Ireland's recording of homelessness. It said there are "serious gaps" in the definition and recording of the extent of homelessness as monthly data releases "do not cover rough sleeping, hidden homelessness, those in long-term supported accommodation or families in domestic violence refuges".
Campaigner and advocate, Father Peter McVerry, said he believes the number without homes is actually closer to 15,000 than 10,000 when these people are included in the figures.
Barnardos has raised concern about the rising number of children in homeless accommodation.
Suzanne Connolly, Barnardos CEO, said: "Combined with last month’s increase, over 170 children have become homeless since schools broke up for the summer holidays. This increase is a clear indictment of the failure of the government to prevent children becoming homeless."
Focus Ireland said that the scale of families losing their homes each week demonstrates that the crisis is far from under control. The charity said the Government needs to increase the amount of social housing it is building.
"The Government is making the case that the targets in Rebuilding Ireland are being met. We recognise that much is being achieved, and in particular more homes are being built than was the case a few years ago," said Pat Dennigan, CEO of Focus Ireland.
"It must be clear to everyone now, that the targets themselves are not enough to deal with the scale of the crisis. The Government needs to be more ambitious in relation to the number of houses that are being built."
