THE NUMBER OF families losing their home in Dublin has doubled this year, according to a housing charity.
Focus Ireland said that 16 families are now becoming homeless in the capital every month, up from 8 earlier in the year.
The charity said there has been a rise of 18 per cent rise in the number of people seeking its help after losing their homes or at risk of losing their home.
The number of people sleeping rough on the streets of the capital has also grown by almost 50 per cent this year. One count in November found 139 people sleeping on the streets.
“We are now seeing more people at serious risk of losing their homes due to the impact of the recession and it’s highly concerning to see the rise in the number of families becoming homeless,” said Lisa Nicole Dunne of Focus Ireland.
The charity revealed the figures as it made an urgent appeal for donations in the run-up to Christmas, saying it would “simply not be able to cope” with demand for services next year without public donations.
Separately, national housing charity Threshold said it has seen a significant rise in the non-repayment of deposits to people renting homes, as well as properties falling into disrepair.
Chief executive Bob Jordan made the comments as the charity urged the public to support its Christmas fundraising appeal which it said was its most important appeal “in decades”.
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