Homeless figures hit record high

Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, said the figures show "a slight increase" on those recorded in February, when the 10,000 barrier was broken for the first time: "We continue to put considerable efforts in to prevent people from entering emergency accommodation, while also exiting as many families and individuals from homelessness as possible each month."

The Minister also noted the results of the Spring Rough Sleeper Count, published by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, which shows a fall in the number of people sleeping rough in the capital in Spring, compared with the figure for Winter.

The count took place over April 9 and 10 and shows tthat 128 people were sleeping rough. The previous count showed 156 sleeping on the streets of Dublin in Winter.

According to the figures, 94 of the 128 rough sleepers were in the city centre, 75% were male and of those whose nationality could be identified, one-in-five were non-Irish nationals.

It also found that almost two-thirds of those sleeping rough this month are aged between 31 and 50.

Eileen Gleeson, director of the DRHE said: "We have been working with our charity partners to increase emergency accommodation, and have increased capacity by 250 permanent beds."

Minister Murphy welcomed the reduction and said work is continuing to address the issues of those sleeping rough, but the larger scale crisis prompted renewed criticism of him and the Government.

Sinn Féin housing spokesman, Eoin Ó'Broin said the Government's Rebuilding Ireland strategy is "failing those in greatest need", while Depaul CEO Kerry Anthony said "the issue is not going away any time soon" and warned that a younger age group may be caught up in homelessness.

"Recently we have seen in some of our emergency accommodations that over 50% of those new to homeless were between the ages of 18-34," he said.

Inner City Helping Homelessness CEO, Anthony Flynn, claims that Minister Murphy and his department are "directly to blame" and added: "Talk is cheap."

Barnardos said children experiencing the trauma of homelessness need access to a dedicated support worker.

The number of homeless people rose by 41 from February, 67% of all those in emergency accommodation in Dublin.

There were 402 people in emergency accommodation in Cork, 309 in Galway, 272 in Limerick, 157 in Kildare, 156 in Louth, 132 in Kerry and 106 in Waterford.

Number of homeless people living in hotels and B&Bs rises again

By Digital Desk staff

There has been another slight rise in the number of people staying in emergency accommodation.

New figures show there were 10,305 homeless people living in hotels and B&Bs during March.

Among those were 6,484 adults and 3,821 children.

The Housing Minister says "considerable efforts" are being made to help find permanent homes.

A statement from Inner City Helping Homeless said: The true figure would be closer to 20,000 as we don’t include rough sleepers, families in women’s shelters, people in direct provision, or people couch surfing or living with family or friends in these figures.

"In the last 4 days alone there has been two deaths of homeless men in their 30s in Cork.

"We cannot become numb to deaths on our streets and the government’s lack of will to provide proper emergency accommodation and build public housing on public lands has led us to this."

Their CEO Anthony Flynn said: “The homelessness crisis has increased year on year and we are now in the midst of the worst levels of homelessness in the history of the state and Minister Murphy and his department are directly responsible for this.

"The detrimental impact on children and adults that are homeless is immeasurable and it’s their physical and mental health that are suffering.

"The time for talking is over and we need to see the government treat homelessness as the national emergency that it is with an emergency sitting of the Dail."

Suzanne Connolly, Barnardos CEO, said: "Amongst the many issues highlighted in the Ombudsman for Children’s report [published earlier this month ] are feelings of shame, embarrassment, sadness and anger for the circumstances they are living in.

"Children also felt a sense of unfairness as they struggle to understand why they do not have a house to live in.

"Living in institutionalised settings is becoming normalised as parents can now count the number of Christmases and birthdays their child has spent in homeless accommodation. But children are acutely aware that this is not normal.

"It is critical that the government place a six month cap on the use of emergency accommodation to house families and to put better supports in place for children who are experiencing homelessness."

Fiona McDonnell, Homeless Services Co-Ordinator at Merchants Quay Ireland, commented: "There has been a 58% increase in the number of people in emergency accommodation since the Government’s strategy, Rebuilding Ireland, was launched in July 2016.

"This is a clear sign that the current strategy to ending homelessness needs revaluation."

Depaul CEO Kerry Anthony said: "This is the third successive record in as many months which indicates there is still a long road to go before we can firmly get a handle on the issue of homelessness.

"Recently we have seen in some of our emergency accommodations that over 50% of those new to homeless were between the ages of 18-34.

"It is important to point out that this is a sample representing Depaul's emergency services, however, for some young adults in our society that means starting your adult life off as homeless.

"We believe nobody should be faced with that prospect when they have so much to give and are at such a young age."