There were 13,866 people recorded as accessing emergency accommodation in March, of whom 4,147 were children and 9,719 were adults, according to latest figures from the Department of Housing.
This is an increase of 25 on February’s figure, when there were 13,841 people homeless.
There were 23 less children in emergency accommodation in March, compared to the previous month, while the number of adults rose by 48.
Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland Wayne Stanley said the figures are a “16% year-on-year increase of men, women and children living in homelessness”.
“While we welcome the fact that some regions have shown a small decline this month,” said Mr Stanley, “We must reflect on the fact that it is almost ten years since these figures began to be published and homelessness was declared a crisis.
“At the end of 2014, the Department reported 3,738 people in homelessness. Today’s figures show an increase of 10,128 men, women and children in homelessness since then. That is a shocking figure.”
The number of people in emergency accommodation in Co Dublin reached a record high of 10,180 in March, with 80 more people seeking shelter in Dublin last month than in February.
“It is a slightly better picture in terms of family homelessness in the sense we have not seen a rise. And in terms of single homelessness, unfortunately, we are still seeing 68 additional singles coming into homelessness than we had in homelessness last month,” said Mary Hayes, Director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Ms Hayes said many older people are becoming homeless.
“We are cognizant of anybody who is at risk of homelessness in the older age category, and we would try and prevent… So for example, in March alone, in terms of singles, we prevented 87 people from becoming homeless.”
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Focus Ireland has welcomed the Government confirming that revised housing targets are to be set but warned that housing policy is moving “far too slowly”.
“We welcome the Taoiseach’s recognition that the exiting new housing targets for social, rental, and private housing are inadequate and will be increased,” said Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan.
“However, things are moving far too slowly for the over 4,000 children who are homeless in Ireland. This massive increase in homelessness was not inevitable and its root cause is the repeated failure to deliver sufficient social and affordable housing.”
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