Sleeping rough in capital rises 45%

THE NUMBER of homeless people sleeping rough in Dublin has jumped by 45 per cent in just over six months, according to unpublished figures.

In addition, emergency accommodation providers are resorting to using mattresses to cope with rising demand for shelter.

A preliminary rough sleeper count which took place earlier this month found that 87 people were sleeping rough, up from 60 during the last count in April of this year.

The figure is not official until it has been verified by a partnership body known as the Dublin Joint Homelessness Consultative Forum. This is scheduled to occur later this week.

In response to a query from The Irish Times, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive – the State's body for dealing with homelessness in the capital – said it was important to note that rough sleeping was "dynamic and can change on a daily basis".

Nevertheless, all indicators are that homeless services are under growing pressure.

All the major homeless charities say they have recorded increases in demand for services of between 20 and 40 per cent over the past year.

Some services say they are continuing to give out sleeping bags at night-time due to ongoing shortages of emergency beds.

In addition, it emerged last month that health authorities are cutting funding for homeless services in parts of the capital by up to 10 per cent over the coming winter months in order to stem their losses.

In response to the rising demand for beds, the executive has supplied an addition 80 emergency beds since mid-September and is planning to provide even more over the coming months to keep pace with demand.

As part of its cold weather initiative, it says there are mattresses being made available in temporary accommodation providers, if required.

“Accommodation capacity is monitored on a daily basis, with adequate provision in place for people who are rough sleeping,” the executive said in a statement.

“The cold weather period provides different opportunities for engaging with entrenched rough sleepers and hard-to-reach groups and increased support needs to be available.”

It says it has given priority to a minimum of an additional 20 beds across homeless services, aimed at people who are entrenched in rough sleeping. This will include adequate provision for single men, single women and couples, the executive added.

The executive said the provision of extra emergency beds was a temporary response and that authorities needed access to additional long-term accommodation to properly address the issue.

“We need access to housing and would again urge property owners across Dublin to avail of the schemes that are in place with the Dublin local authorities, such as the rental accommodation scheme and enhanced leasing scheme,” it said.

The Government is also keen to move away from a model where homeless people drift in and out of crisis accommodation towards the greater use of longer-term beds in the private rented sector.

The number of additional so- called “move-on” units which are due to come on-stream this year in the capital is 438.

However, this is a slight reduction on the number of units made available last year.

The rising demand for homeless services is threatening to undo some of the progress made by authorities in tackling homelessness in recent years.

Over recent years, they succeeded in dramatically reducing the numbers of people sleeping rough and helped to increase the provision of long-term accommodation and support.