![](https://mmo.aiircdn.com/516/6098f23f79d9e.jpg)
That's a 25% increase.
The Peter McVerry Trust says 2020 was a challenging year but a good year.
The trust provides homelessness and housing services on behalf of Kildare County Council.
In its nationwide operations, the number of people who the housing and homeless charity helped rose by over a quarter to 7,800.
Almost half of those who were given assistance fell under the Housing First tenancies scheme.
It was set up to reduce rough sleeping and long-term homelessness.
In Kildare, the Trust worked with 397 people last year, across services and housing.
CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust, Kildare resident, Pat Doyle says the scheme has been a great success:
We look forward to welcoming Minister for Housing @DarraghOBrienTD to our latest housing scheme in #Dublin City this morning to launch our Annual Report 2020.
— Peter McVerry Trust (@PMVTrust) May 10, 2021
Full statement here - https://t.co/ZCumZDXYaz pic.twitter.com/6s0yWDz4vs
The Trust says lockdowns freed up rental properties that would otherwise have been used by the business community to house overseas workers.
Pat Doyle says this was one of the few positives of the pandemic: