Nearly 18,000 people were availing of homeless accommodation in Ireland in April, the highest figure since records began.
17,548 people were confirmed to be in homeless accommodation by the Department of Housing in the most recent round of figures.
The figure is an increase from the 17,517 people figure for March 2026.
March 2026 was the first month in which controversial rent rules were implemented, with critics arguing erodes tenants’ rights and prevent tenants from attaining long-term security.
Of the figure, 5604 are children, up from 5,571 in the last round of figures.
12,475 people were confirmed to be homeless in Dublin.
When the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael/independents government took office in January 2025, the figure stood at 15,286 people.
The figures mark a dramatic increase from May 2016, when the 32nd Dáil met for the first time, when 6,189 people were in homeless accommodation.
Record-high homelessness has resulted from record-high evictions, all of which can be traced back to “disastrous” government housing policies, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.
The Dublin North-West TD said, “we have learned there are lengthy waiting lists for emergency accommodation hubs in some local authority areas which are at capacity, unable to take in any more families. Those who cannot secure emergency accommodation are not counted in these figures.”
“We can therefore assume that thousands of families who are on waiting lists are in hidden homelessness, sleeping rough or couch surfing. Others in housing precarity, such as parents of children with additional needs or elderly people with medical needs, cannot enter emergency accommodation because it is unsuitable, and are therefore not counted as homeless.”
“In the last twelve months, 22,402 households have been issued notices to quit. This is a level of evictions we have not witnessed since the Great Famine.
“Only corporate landlords and vulture funds are benefiting from government housing policies, such as March 1st’s catastrophic rental changes, not ordinary people, who have been kicked out of their properties in their droves as a result,” he said.
School holidays are worsening pressures in homeless accommodation and fuelling mental health difficulties, a charity has said.
The Salvation Army said teenagers, especially those who find themselves living in its Dublin hubs during the extended break, are “highly challenged.”
And it warned that mental health issues are an ‘inevitable consequence’.
“Summer is a difficult time for many families as tensions over the lack of space within rooms tend to be magnified,” said Anthony Byrne, service manager at Houben House family hub in Harold’s Cross, Dublin.
“Younger children and teenagers are off school for a prolonged period so there could be four or five family members sharing one room.
“The normal dynamics of summer; inviting friends over, enjoying a barbeque or having a family get together, simply do not exist and as an inevitable consequence, people’s mental health is definitely affected.”
One 17-year-old teenager, who has lived at Houben House for two years said: “It’s hard going, from being used to having a house and having your own space, to not being able to talk to your friends and bringing them over, and being fully honest with them (about his homelessness). It’s hard to lie about those kind of things.”
One of the biggest providers of homeless accommodation in the capital, The Salvation Army provides 250,000 bed nights per year in its five individual and family homeless centres across Dublin.
Sinn Féin TD and housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said, “month after month, this crisis continues to deepen as a result of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s disastrous housing policies.”
“There are actions that the government must take now to reduce the number of people becoming homeless and to get people out of emergency accommodation more quickly,” he said.