LAST UPDATE | 30 Aug

THE NUMBER OF people living in emergency accommodation increased last month to a record 14,429.

According to the latest figures from the Department of Housing, 10,028 adults and 4,401 children were in emergency accommodation in July. 

The figure is an increase from the 14,303 people living in emergency accommodation in June, which was also a record at the time.

The Dublin Simon Community described the increase as “seemingly relentless growth” but added that “we can get ahead of this crisis”. 

“There are solutions. We can see the impact they are having every day,” the chairity’s executive director Wayne Stanley said today. 

“If we can get more investment in infrastructure to deliver the homes that are needed, and the policy change to prevent homelessness, we can increase the number of people leaving homelessness, reduce the number of people coming in and finally get ahead of this crisis.”

‘Utterly heartbreaking’

The persistently high figures have been roundly criticised by homelessness charities and Opposition politicians.

“These figures provide further evidence of this Government’s inability to get to grips with the housing crisis with the number of people in homeless accommodation rising every month this year,” said Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan.

“Fianna Fáil promised to turn the page on the housing crisis when Darragh O’Brien was appointed Minister for Housing. In reality, they have turned a crisis into a disaster. As we approach the end of the line for this Government, rents, house prices and the number of people becoming homeless have all reached record levels never seen before,” O’Callaghan said.

Labour’s Leader and Housing Spokesperson Ivana Bacik said it is “utterly heartbreaking to think of the 4,401 children heading back to school while living in emergency accommodation”.

“These are not just numbers; these are young lives being shaped by an environment of uncertainty and instability. Children should be growing up in a secure and nurturing environment, not in emergency accommodation where the simplest of tasks, like completing schoolwork, may become a challenge,” Bacik said.

“We know these figures offer just a glimpse into the true scale of the problem. Years of economic prosperity have been squandered by successive governments that have failed to address what is undoubtedly the issue of our time. The tragic result is that we now have thousands of children growing up without a place to call home. This government has utterly thrown in the towel on housing, leaving our most vulnerable to suffer.”

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, said that “only a change of government” can address the homeless crisis, saying that Sinn Féin’s will launch an alternative housing plan next week that will set out a plan to end long-term homelessness by 2030.

“It is quite clear at this stage that the government’s housing plan is not working. In fact it is making things worse. More adults, children, families, single people and pensioners are homelessness today than when this government took office four years ago,” Ó Broin said.