Laois Co Council spent €900k on emergency beds for homeless people in 2024

ALMOST €900,000 was spent on private emergency accommodation for homeless people in Laois last year.

A new plan presented in county hall shows that Laois Co Council spent €894,766 on emergency beds, mainly in hotels and B&Bs.

The figure prompted one councillor to suggest that the local authority should buy a property for use as a homeless shelter, rather than pay for temporary rooms.

The draft 2025-2029 Midland Region Homelessness Action Plan was presented by Fionnuala Daly, senior social worker in the council’s housing section, at the latest monthly meeting of Laois County Council.

The plan was unanimously approved by councillors, with many praising the council’s ongoing work for homeless individuals and families.

The plan aims to end homelessness in the county by 2030, in line with national policy. Currently, the level of homelessness in Laois is half that of Offaly but double that of Longford.

As of 21 May 2025, Laois had 38 ‘households’ in emergency accommodation, including 11 children. A total of eight families and 26 individuals were living in B&Bs, while four single people were in hostels.

Figures for May 2024 show that the Laois housing section was contacted by 38 people that month who were facing homelessness, including eight children. Figures for the other three midland counties that month were highest in Westmeath at 91, including 17 children; 76 in Offaly, of whom 26 were children and 18 in Longford, all adults.

Overall in the midlands last December, a total of 207 adults were homeless – 126 men and 81 women. The majority were aged 25-44 (106), while 28 were aged 18-24, a further 66 were aged 45-65 and seven were aged over 65. The overall number in the midlands fell to 172 last month.

Of the 207 midlands adults categorised as homeless, 151 were Irish citizens, 24 were from the European Economic Area (EEA) and 15 were non-EEA citizens.

Ms Daly said the causes of homelessness are complex and range from economic hardship, addiction and mental health problems to domestic violence, family disputes, notices to quit, prison releases and the shortage of affordable housing.

People given emergency accommodation in Laois include people who were sleeping rough, people given notices to quit their rental properties and individuals leaving foster care or prison.

Ms Daly said the length of time spent in emergency accommodation can range from one night to six months.

Laois is the only midland county with no homeless hostel but 27 supported houses for homeless people in the county are provided by the Peter McVerry Trust (22) and Midlands Simon (5).

The Laois spend on private emergency accommodation last year was the second lowest of the four midland counties. Offaly spent €1.5m, Westmeath €1.4m and Longford €324,000.

Ms Daly that Laois Co Council relies either on B&Bs or regional shelters in emergency situations and always tries to keep families with children within the county. She said: “We keep them in Laois if there are school-going children. We don’t send them to Longford or Westmeath.” The draft plan aims to eliminate homelessness within the next five years through a range of measures, including building new houses, improving supports and cooperating with the HSE, Mental Health and Disability Services, Addiction Services, Laois Domestic Abuse Service and Tusla.

During a wide-ranging debate on the plan, councillors were largely positive about current and potential services for homeless people in Laois, compared to other counties.

Cllr Aisling Moran (Ind) highlighted the fact that Laois has no hostel for the homeless and is spending nearly €900,000 on hotels and B&Bs. She felt it would make more sense for the council to purchase a property, instead of having children pulled away from their friends and sometimes missing school.

Cllr Barry Walsh (FG) said that, while there were cases of families that unfortunately had to move outside the county for emergency accommodation, the council was generally doing “a great job”. He said: “You don’t see any evidence of people on the street.” Cllr Paschal McEvoy (FF) commented: “We have all come across people who had to move out fairly quick but, once we contact the homeless section, it is dealt with quickly. I think we are doing fantastic work in Laois County Council. You rarely see anyone on the street here and if you do, it’s maybe by choice. They’re given every opportunity to get off the street.” Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley (Ind) said that Laois was “very lucky compared to other counties” but warned: “There is a whole cohort of people on the brink of homelessness because of rising rents.” Cllr Dwane Stanley asked the council to examine the possibility of helping people to downsize or “right-size”, saying: “We have lots of elderly couples in three- or four-bedroom houses that are privately owned who want to downsize but can’t, because they don’t have the money to buy a smaller house, while some are in houses that are unsuitable for them because of illness.” Cllr Paddy Buggy (FG) observed: “Downsizing sounds good but people are often in that house since they were in their 20s or 30s, so maybe we could have smaller units in the same area. We have to be careful as we are dealing with people’s lives.” Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald said that Laois needs more retirement villages but it hasn’t happened because “there is no money in that for developers”.

Council chief executive Michael Rainey said the council is focusing on building one- and two-bedroom social homes, which reflects demand and gives people the opportunity to move from three- and four bedroom properties.

He said: “The convent project in Portlaoise is a really good example. There will be a few people taking accommodation in the convent as a result of rightsizing.” He added that the number of social houses built in Laois over the past few years has far exceeded government targets. The county was given a target in 2022 to build 534 new units by 2026 but has already delivered 669, which includes houses built by approved housing bodies.

Mr Rainey said: “We have another 387 social houses under construction in 2025, which is a significant number for any county to show.” However, councillors James Kelly, Aisling Moran and Caroline Dwane Stanley all argued that the targets were exceeded because they were too low. They called for higher targets to be set for the construction of badly needed social housing units around the county.