Focus Ireland Calls on Government to Prioritise Families Trapped in Long-term Homelessness for Social Housing as Homelessness Hits Another Record High

Focus Ireland has called for urgent government action as the number of people who are homeless has increased to a record figure of 14,303 for June 2024.

The new figures also show a record number of children 4,404 and 2,093 families who are homeless.

The Department of Housing figures show an increase of 144 people from the previous month and a stark 14% rise in the last year since June 2023.

Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said that in the middle of this crisis it is vital to remember that it is possible to end homelessness if the right actions are taken.

He said: “The numbers of people homeless continue to rise every month.  We think a lot more can – and must – be done to ease this human crisis. we need to help more families and individuals to get and keep a home.  And this is what we are doing year on year.

“Focus Ireland – in partnership with the State – has helped nearly 100 families to secure a home in the past three months and leave homelessness. A key reason for this is that there has been better access to social housing coming on stream for families who are stuck in long-term homelessness.’’

“We need to learn from this and are calling on the Government to implement a policy that ensures that some of the new supply of social housing is used to provide homes for long-term homeless families. This same approach drove the sharp fall in homelessness during the pandemic.”

“Unless we do learn from what we know works the number of families and children who are homeless for long periods will continue to rise each month despite the great work being done by Focus Ireland, other NGOS and the State to end homelessness for more households.”

Mr. Dennigan highlighted the severe impact of homelessness, on people’s lives as he added: “Homelessness causes terrible trauma for everyone involved and we know it hurts children the most. It must be seen as totally unacceptable that we now have well over 4,000 children homeless. We must all do more to end this crisis.