11,632 people were living in emergency accommodation over Christmas - yet another record total.
🟥 11,632 people in emergency accommodation last month - a new record
🔴 3,442 children spent Christmas homeless.
State figures don't include hidden homeless, rough sleepers, women in refuge, refugees or asylum seekers.
— Ben Finnegan (@_BenFinnegan) January 27, 2023
The figure from the Department of Housing includes 3,442 children who are growing up in B&Bs, hotels and other state provided temporary accommodation.
The figure from the state does not include hidden homeless, rough sleepers, women in refuge centres, refugees or asylum seekers.
Today's figures mean every month in 2022 has seen an increase in the numbers accessing emergency accommodation.
December 2022's total is 30% higher than the figure for December 2021, while there's a 40% increase in the number of children growing up in homelessness.
CEO of Focus Ireland Pat Dennigan said, “when we see 30% rise in the last year completely wipe out the massive progress we made during the pandemic in 2021, when figures dropped to below 8,000 people, it is easy to just become despondent, but we need to use this set-back to give us the impetus to take the steps that can change things.
"Focus Ireland welcomed the Government’s winter eviction ban but warned that it only allowed a ‘breathing space’ for the Government to introduce measures that would have a more lasting impact.
"We are now halfway through the breathing space that the winter eviction ban creates, and we are calling on the Government to publish a progress report on how it has used this time and what it plans to put in place before the end of the current ban.”
