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Record Number Of People Homele...

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Record Number Of People Homeless

Laura Donnelly
Laura Donnelly

02:27 6 Jan 2023


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A record 11,542 people are living in emergency accommodation.

Figures from the Department of Housing show the total increased by 26% in a year.

In Dublin there are 5,655 homeless adults registered, while there are also more than 2,500 children.

The figures are usually released at the end of each month, but November's total was delayed because of Christmas.

It shows a record number of adults registered as homeless at 8,048.

There are also 3,494 children growing up in emergency accommodation.

November's total is a 1.2 percent increase on the figures given for October, and is over 10,000 for the eighth month in a row.

The figures from the Department of Housing don't include refugees, asylum seekers, women in refuge centres or rough sleepers.

Tragedy

Catherine Kenny, CEO of Dublin Simon Community, says: "We are dismayed by the increase in the number of people presenting to emergency accommodation services in Dublin.

"For the seventh month in a row, we have broken the record for the highest number of people ever recorded in homelessness in the capital. These spiraling figures convey nothing short of a tragedy. 

"It should be noted that the number of people captured in these figures only takes account of those residing in emergency accommodation and does not include people who are rough sleeping, staying in domestic violence refuges or the hidden homeless population (those who are forced to couch-surf, sleep in vehicles, stay with friends or family, etc.)

"The true extent of the homelessness crisis remains unquantified." 

"Unthinkable"

Wayne Stanley, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, says: "The actions taken while the current moratorium is in place will go a long way to defining what can be achieved in homelessness in the coming year.

"In the face of the homelessness crisis, the Government took the important step of bringing in the moratorium on evictions. Now we need to see momentum on the provision of secure affordable accommodation to those in homelessness in the coming weeks and throughout 2023.

"Otherwise, we are facing into ongoing extensions and renewals of the eviction ban and that’s not a long-term solution.  

"It is timely to reflect that 11,542 people living in emergency accommodation only a year ago seemed unthinkable. 2023 needs to be a year of delivery for those at the sharpest end of the ongoing housing crisis or we will see the unthinkable surpassed and redefined each month.  

"In the short term, this means doing more with what we have, and looking to the allocation of current local authority housing and vacancy in the general housing stock.  

"We need to see more innovation in housing provision in 2023. We welcome the focus on rapid build homes and will be calling on Government to ensure that innovation in this area is driven forward. We would also highlight again the need for the insertion of a right to housing in our constitution."

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