The number of homeless people in Ireland has crossed 8,000 once again in June as per the reports from the Department of Housing. Adding 23 more adults and children, the number of homeless people in the country now stands 8,014 for the month of June.
The number of families without homes has also increased to 932 in June, four up from May. In Dublin alone, 14 families became homeless within a month.
Different housing charities in the country blame government for their lack of strategy to tackle the issue of homelessness. Due to travel restrictions, there was a ban for eviction in the country for months until April. But after that the Government revoked issuing of eviction notices, which resulted in the rise of the number of people being evicted out of rental homes.
The housing charity Focus Ireland called on the government to introduce specific long-term plans to address family homelessness in their ‘Housing for All’ strategy. With the impact of Covid, the economy is still under stress and many households experience financial difficulties, said Focus Ireland director of advocacy Mike Allen. The number of homeless people has increased four times more compared to the figure in 2014 and the then Minister for Housing acknowledged that as ‘emergency crisis,’ he pointed out. He also crtiticised the government for withholding many policies that would benefit the families during the pandemic.
With 4,069 adults, Dublin tops the number of homeless people in the country. Also 702 families live in the capital without a roof on top. Outside Dublin, there are 412 homeless adults in Cork, 218 in Limerick and 62 in Waterford.
According to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, the numbers are ‘still far too high’ and more work to be done in the area. Even though the number has decreased from a year on year basis from 2020 to 2021, still a lot of people in the country are living without homes, he added.