17,885 people were confirmed to be in homeless accommodation by the Department of Housing in the most recent round of figures.
The figure is a major jump from the 17,527 people confirmed to be in homeless accommodation by the Department of Housing in the previous round of figures.
March 2026 was the first month in which controversial rent rules were implemented, with critics arguing they erode tenants’ rights and prevent tenants from attaining long-term security.
Of the figure, 5,830 are children, up from the previous figure of 5,659.
In Dublin, the total homeless population stands at 12,429, up from the previous record of 12,417.
When the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael/independents government took office in January 2025, the figure stood at 15,286 people in homeless accommodation nationwide.
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.
Sociologists note that homeless figures only record people who are availing of homeless accommodation, and do not count “invisible” homelessness such as people sleeping on couches at family and friends’ houses, or people sleeping in cars.
Sinn Féin TD and housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said there is a direct correlation between the drastic rise in homeless figures and the government’s rental reforms.
The Dublin Mid-West TD said that the latest round of figures are a “direct consequence” of the failure of government to deliver enough social and affordable homes combined with their “disastrous” changes to the rental sector.
Ó Broin said that the figures can be reversed, but only if the government takes the opposition’s feedback on board.
“Homelessness can be brought to an end; there are solutions,” he explained.
He said that renters need rents to be cut and a ban on rent increases is needed.
He further stated that this year’s Budget must attempt to make a dent in the homeless crisis, which threatens to break the 20,000 mark by the time the current government’s mandate expires in November 2029.
In the last government, a temporary ban on evictions was implemented during winter 2022 and into Spring 2023, and was seen as an example of the Green Party’s moderating influence on Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Statistics from the Department of Housing revealed that the no-fault eviction ban had a clear impact on homeless figures, which dropped nationwide.
In the first month of the no-fault eviction ban in November 2022, there were 11,542 people in homeless accommodation, and in the first full month of figures after the ban lapsed in March 2023, the figures rose again to 12,441.
Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne said that the government has “normalised” homelessness through their policy.
“This government has made an active effort to normalise homelessness by claiming that it is a complex phenomenon, the solution to which has yet to be identified, when in reality, it is solvable with the right policies and degree of political will,” the Dublin North-West TD said.
“As rents have risen, the Housing Assistance Payment hasn’t kept up. Recipients, upon being evicted, are no longer able to find eligible properties to rent, leaving them in housing precarity, failed by one of the few safeguards this government points to as progress,” the Soc Dems housing person stated.
“This crisis has resulted from this government’s decisions. The Minister for Housing, along with those who came before him, decided that this harrowing state of affairs is acceptable, and consciously made policy choices which have allowed it to spiral further out of control,” he said.