New report breaks down the number of homeless people in every county in Ireland

Conor Heneghan

There are only two counties in the Republic of Ireland where no people access homelessness services.

A new report in Irish Country Living, a weekly magazine inside the Irish Farmers Journal, has detailed the number of people accessing homelessness services in every county in the Republic of Ireland.

The report reveals that there are currently 5,298 homeless adults in Ireland and although the vast majority of those are in Dublin, 1,762 people outside of the capital access homelessness services in counties throughout the country.

The figures below apply to homelessness in Ireland during the week of 23-29 October 2017 and reveal that in that week, there were only two counties, Roscommon and Leitrim, where not a single person accessed homelessness services.

Outside of Dublin, Limerick had the highest number of homeless adults (312), followed by Cork (282), Galway (191), Louth (137) and Kildare (125).

Apart from Leitrim and Roscommon, meanwhile, Monaghan (2), Cavan (4) and Laois (10) had the lowest number of homeless people in the country.

Referencing figures from the Daft.ie report for the third quarter of 2017, which revealed higher rents and the lessening availability of rental accommodation across the whole country, the report established that for those already homeless, independent living is inching further out of reach.

“Everyone says Dublin, Dublin, Dublin, but even down the country rents have gone up,” Joe (not his real name) told Irish Country Living.

“For a two-bedroom apartment in Longford, you are talking about €600-€650 (per month). Landlords are looking for a month in advance and a month’s deposit; that is €1,300. For a guy who is on €193 a week, it’s very hard to save €1,300.”

Niamh Randall, head of policy and communications at Simon Communities of Ireland, said that while disturbingly high rental prices make it increasingly difficult to find suitable accommodation for those who are homeless, landlords are not helping the situation either.

“It’s very often a landlord’s market out there,” she said.

“While it’s illegal to discriminate against someone receiving housing benefit, there are other mechanisms used. For example, asking for three months’ rent in advance.

“People on housing benefit or earning a low income can’t provide that, or looking for a previous landlord reference or an employer reference. Again, people who have had a long experience of homelessness are probably not going to be able to provide those things.”