Homeless figures in Ireland approaching 15,000

The latest homeless figures from the Department of Housing has seen a rise from 14,486 in August 2024 to 14,760 in September 2024.

10,701 of those people are Dublin-based.

Published on the final Friday of every month, the number of people availing of homelessness services in Ireland has broken the all-time record in consecutive months through 2024.

The Dublin Simon Community has noticed that the level of homelessness in Dublin has increased by 14% year-on-year.

The Department of Housing figures do not account for those who are rough sleeping, individuals in domestic violence shelters, refugees, or asylum seekers, nor do they take “hidden homelessness” into account, such as people sleeping in cars, staying with friends, on sofas, or in unsuitable conditions. 

Catherine Kenny, CEO of Dublin Simon Community, said “the lack of an integrated response by the Government is one of, if not the, key issue with today’s record numbers. Since the Dáil was last dissolved in 2020, homelessness has increased by 41%.. 

“With the confirmation of an election before Christmas, the people affected by this crisis, homeless or at risk, can only watch from the margins to see if they will be a priority for the next Government. Today’s record-breaking figures, combined with those at risk of losing their home or those who cannot afford one, need to be the highest priority in national and local Government solutions to homelessness.  “

“While there is no silver bullet, a future Government needs to deliver a real integrated response. This must be a combined effort across Government departments, in areas including health, equality, social protection and others. Recommendations from the Housing Commission report, revised targets on housing delivery and recent recommendations by the Dublin City Taskforce should be debated as to their merits and possibilities,” added Kenny. 

Social Democrats TD and housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan noted that September’s figures are likely to be the final set of numbers published in the lifetime of this government, which took power in June 2020, and the figures paint a “grim” picture.

O’Callaghan noted “when this Government was formed in June 2020, there were 8,699 people in homeless emergency accommodation, 2,653 of them children; there are now 14,760 people living in homeless emergency accommodation, with 4,651 of those being children”.

The Dublin Bay North TD has been keeping score of the Government’s track record on; he noted that homeless figures has increased 41 times and a new all-time record has been set 23 times.

“It is important we do not lose sight of what these statistics mean. Every time someone becomes homeless a life is devastated. Every child growing up without a home is a tragedy.”

“Thousands are being forced to go through this trauma while the Government has a €25 billion budget surplus. It is cruel and completely unacceptable.

“The depressing familiarity of this record being broken is an indictment of this Government’s legacy.”

In March 2018, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told an Oireachtas committee that nationwide homeless figures, which were creeping up to 10,000 at the time, were a “disturbing” figure and declared homelessness a national emergency.