Almost 170 People Were Homeless In County Kildare Last Month, According To New Figures

Friday, 27 May 2022 15:41

By Caoimhe Harney

Over 10,000 people were in homeless accommodation nationally in April, according to figures from the Department of Housing.

Some 168 people were homeless in County Kildare in April, according to a Homeless report published by the Department of Housing.

191 people in Meath and 20 people in Wicklow were homeless last month.

Nationally, over 10 thousand homeless people were in emergency accommodation last month.

It's the first time it's passed that mark since the start of the pandemic.

New figures released by the Department of Housing show there were 10,049 people in emergency accommodation in April.

Of those, just over 2,900 were children.

Dublin continues to have the highest numbers of people in emergency accommodation, with just under 5 thousand adults and 950 children.

That's followed by Cork, Galway, Limerick and Meath.

Some 1,308 families used emergency accommodation in April.

Pat Greene, Head of Policy & Volunteering at Dublin Simon Community, commented: "In the greater Dublin area, we have almost surpassed the number of people in emergency accommodation during the homeless crisis peak of 2019.

"Almost three years on, the wider environment is even more challenging and complex as house prices and cost of living increase while the supply of social and affordable housing remains critically low.

"On the streets, our outreach team is now meeting an increasing number of women who need access to safe female accommodation but availability cannot keep up with demand.

 "At this point, there is not only an urgent need to stem the flow into and provide move-on options out of homelessness, but the emergency accommodation system itself is bursting at the seams and staff are working at and beyond capacity to meet the growing demand for services," he insisted.

"The detrimental effects of long-term stays in emergency accommodation on mental and physical health are well documented. 

"People are being failed by the system and as a result of that failure will need even more support in the future - it is a vicious circle with no clear exit point," he added.