At least 127 are sleeping rough in Dublin

At least 127 people are sleeping rough on the streets of the capital as homeless authorities scramble to find additional emergency beds to cope with rising demand.

Official figures to be published later this week will show numbers sleeping rough in Dublin are down 9 per cent on the winter period, but up 35 per cent on the same period last year.

The reduction over recent months follows a significant increase in the number of temporary beds and other emergency measures.

In order to help meet continuing demand for support, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive is planning to secure an additional 60 emergency beds before the end of next month.

Full capacity
Most hostels and homeless shelters have been operating at full capacity over recent months, according to charities, with many vulnerable people turned away on a nightly basis.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive report on rough sleeping was carried out in early April and involved a team of more than 100 staff and volunteers.

It says additional emergency beds, along with increases in housing and supports for entrenched rough-sleepers, are being rolled out to meet its long-term aim of eliminating the need to sleep homeless.

But social justice campaigner Fr Peter McVerry has warned of a “tsunami of homelessness” as rising rents, housing shortages and home repossessions look set to worsen over the coming months.

He said the traditional routes out of homelessness – social housing and the private rented sector – were out of reach for many in need of support. On top of this, the scale of buy-to-let mortgages in arrears meant thousands of additional people might also be forced to find accommodation in the near future.

"In all the years I have been working with homeless people it has never been so bad. We are, even I would say, beyond crisis at this stage," he told RTÉ's Sunday with Miriam radio programme.

Discrimination
The housing charity Dublin Simon has also warned that discrimination against social welfare tenants is resulting in spiralling numbers living in emergency accommodation in hotels and sleeping rough.

In contrast to the Dublin Region Homeless Executive report’s findings, Dublin Simon estimates that rough sleeping in the city-centre is up 200 per cent between January and May of this year.

Separate figures obtained by The Irish Times show a sharp growth in housing waiting lists nationally (see panel, right).

In Dublin, the biggest increase was reported by Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council, which had 4,546 on the housing list last week. This was an increase of 33.4 per cent on last May, when the previous national waiting lists were published by the Housing Agency.

South Dublin County Council now has 7,770 on its housing list, compared to 6,217 last May, a 25 per cent increase.

Dublin City Council, the largest local authority in the State, had waiting list of 16,171 last May. It would not provide The Irish Times with an up-to-date figure, saying it did not have one and advised that a Freedom Of Information request be made for it.