The number of pensioners in the North presenting themselves as homeless has risen dramatically in the past year, according to a leading charity.
A total of 1,383 pensioners last year presented themselves as homeless - an increase of 37 per cent, the Simon Community has said.
The North's leading homeless charity has launched a striking new billboard campaign to highlight the issue of homelessness in the North. It focuses on older people and the under-25s.
The campaign features two black-and-white posters of a young woman and an older man, representing just two of the thousands of people who approach the North's Housing Executive every year.
Last year, 3,375 people aged between 16 and 25 declared themselves homeless - this figure represents a fifth of all homeless households. The chief executive of Simon Community Northern Ireland, Ms Carol O'Bryan, said: "We are approached by a high proportion of young people in need of emergency accommodation each year.
"The reasons for homelessness vary, but over 50 per cent of our 16-to-25-year-old residents were made homeless last year due to family conflict." Ms O'Bryan said older people represented a particularly vulnerable group in society.
One older person, Jim, told how his life fell apart after redundancy. "I was a happily married man with children and grandchildren. Life was great and we did all the 'normal' things any family would do.
"I was on a very good wage and, for over 30 years, worked in a large textile company. When I was made redundant, my life started to change for the worse. My wife and I started to have rows, which, through time, turned into major arguments.
"My wife eventually threw me out of our home and my children and grandchildren no longer had room in their lives for me."
A young homeless woman also told how her problems began after falling out with her mother and using drugs when she was 17.
The billboard campaign follows on from the Simon Community's previous campaign featuring the slogan "Most of us are only four pay cheques away from being homeless".