Mr Kenny confirmed the figure to the Strategic Policy Committee for Housing earlier today, outlining that this has been a trend in recent years, despite assurances from Government ministers and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) according to the Inner-City Helping Homeless (ICHH).
Due to Covid-19 social distancing measures, the number of available beds in hostels around the country had to be reduced, however, the ICHH says it was advised that 450 additional beds had been sourced, in addition to 670 beds in hotels and one bedroom tourist apartments.
In a statement released by the ICHH following Mr Kenny's announcement, the charity says the Homeless Action Plan Framework 2019-2021 is not being implemented as the DRHE has not provided sufficient emergency accommodation to reduce the number of people having to sleep rough in the capital.
CEO of the ICHH Anthony Flynn said: “The deputy chief's announcement this morning is highly concerning.
"Warning signs regarding the requirement for additional bed space around the city have been flagged. Year on year we see additional bed space requirements heading into the winter months.
"Considering Covid-19 guidelines extra additional capacity should have already been in place. The deputy chief says we require an extra 300 beds in the middle of a pandemic.
"This is the first time that such an admission on bed shortages has been made in the city. Services are already stretched and are seeing serious increase in presentations.
"We require immediate emergency measures to be implemented and a solid plan on how we are going to deal with this. All Government and Council departments need to be engaged regarding what empty buildings we have under our remit.”
