Over 4,600 Dublin homeless seek emergency accommodation

More than 4,600 people accessed homeless accommodation services in Dublin last year, 40 per cent of whom had not sought help before, according to the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.

Presenting the executive's 2013 figures to Dublin City Council, director Cathal Morgan said the number of families who had to be housed in hotels because no other accommodation could be sourced for them had reached "chronic proportions".

The executive, which has overall responsibility for homeless services for the four Dublin local authorities, was not in a position to meet demand for emergency accommodation, Mr Morgan said.

The number of individuals using homeless services in Dublin last year, was 4,613 and of those, 1,958 were newly homeless.

Homeless people slept in emergency accommodation almost 14,000 times in 2013. Some 2,500 people were living in emergency accommodation at any one time, Mr Morgan said.

Some 793 homeless people moved into rented accommodation last year, down from 879 in 2012. Most of those housed last year moved into the private rented sector (426). Only 149 people got a council flat or house from one of the four Dublin local authorities, 96 homeless people were housed by voluntary housing bodies and 122 moved into long-term supported accommodation.

However, those securing tenancies account for just over half of those counted as “leaving homeless” last year. Just under 250 people moved in with family or friends, which put them at risk of becoming homeless again, 124 moved into hospitals and a similar number, 122, went into residential treatments facilities.

Prison
Ninety-eight homeless people ended up in prison last year and 57 people left the State under the reconnection programme for destitute immigrants.

There was a “stark rise” in families seeking accommodation, Mr Morgan said, with 130 currently living in hotels because there was nowhere else to house them.

“Housing availability is in decline and there is no doubt there is a particular housing challenge in the Dublin region, but I am perturbed by the stark rise in families in emergency accommodation. It is of chronic proportions, in my view.”

Rising rents and a lack of housing in Dublin meant there were likely to be increasing numbers of families living in hotels, Dublin City Council's head of housing Dick Brady said.

“I am not happy with the use of hotels, but we are in a position of last resort. They are not a place for any family to be raised, but if it’s a choice between a hotel and the side of the road, I will stick with the hotel.”