Almost 16,000 people homeless in Ireland as another record high reached

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Homelessness has reached another record high in Ireland as the number of people using emergency accommodation rose to 15,915.

This is up from 15,747 people recorded in the last official Department of Housing tally in May, 4,844 of whom were children.

Figures published on Friday show 10,957 adults and 4,958 children accessed emergency accommodation in the last week of June.

The statistics do not include people sleeping rough, those that may be couch-surfing or homeless in hospitals or prisons, or those in asylum seeker centres or domestic violence shelters.

The number of people accessing emergency accommodation has been steadily increasing for years.

It surpassed 10,000 people for the first time in 2019 and again in February 2020, before falling to 8,000 in mid-2021.

An eviction ban was imposed from November 2022 until the end of March 2023 in an attempt to control rising homeless numbers.