Numbers of destitute children double in 12 months

The number of homeless children in Dublin continues to rise and has doubled in a year, figures to be published today will show.

The data, from Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), show in the week of November 23rd to 29th there were 1,466 children in 705 families in emergency accommodation in the capital. This represents a 98 per cent increase since November 2014, when there were 741 homeless children.

Of the 705 families, 205 including 417 children are in supported homeless accommodation, while 500 families with 1,049 children are in hotels.

There was, however, a reduction in the number of new families coming into homelessness last month. Some 60 families presented as homeless in November compared with 72 in October, 70 in September, 78 in August and 70 in July. The majority of these families are losing their homes in the private rented sector and are unable to access new homes in it.

Moving into tenancies

However, more families are moving on from homelessness and into tenancies than last year, according the DRHE. In the first nine months of the year 739 adults moved from homelessness into tenancies, 194 more than did in the same period last year. It is not clear from the data what proportion of these were parents with children.

In the months of June, July and August, 260 adults moved into tenancies, which is the highest level in a single quarter, a spokeswoman said.

“This represents a 36 per cent increase in move-on from homelessness to independent living, as a direct result of work by the Dublin local authorities in sourcing and allocating social housing to homeless households,” she said.

She also pointed to the provision of 500 units of modular housing by the end of next year with an initial 22 due to be delivered this month.

However, Focus Ireland, which is the lead agency working with homeless families, questioned whether the Government was taking the homelessness crisis seriously. In November last year the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, said: "A situation whereby children, in particular, are homeless is not one that anybody can condone."

Roughan MacNamara, advocacy and communications manager with Focus Ireland, said if tackling homelessness had been a priority for the Government, there would have been a far greater response.

‘Existing homes’

“We should have seen not just an emergency response but much more action to keep people in their existing homes in the first place. It is vital to stress you don’t have to build or access one single new home or housing unit to do this. These people are in homes now as I speak. What is required is firm action by the Government to keep them there and to stop them becoming homeless.”

He called for an increase in rent supplement caps and criticised the decision of the Government to allow Nama sell 90 per cent of the 20,000 homes it is to build, on the open market.