Homelessness reaches record figures with 6,709 people in Ireland devoid of homes

The number of families homeless in Dublin surpasses 1000 for first time.

Focus Ireland has issued new figures which report that 65 families have recently become homeless in Dublin during the month of September. These latest figures mean that 736 families have become homeless in the capital in the first 9 months of this year. Sadly, these figures correlate with the national figures that were released this afternoon as 6,709 people in Ireland are now without a home around the country. Focus Ireland said that while it's helping at least one family to move on from homelessness every day this year, the reality is that inadequate prevention strategies result in another family becoming homeless on that very same day. They also stressed that the crisis will only be ended when more action is taken to cut the constant number of families – and single people – becoming homeless every month. Director of Advocacy, Mike Allen, said: “We need to stop the constant flow of families and single people becoming homeless. Our frontline staff have seen first-hand that the two key reasons families are becoming homeless is one, landlords are selling up and getting out of the business, and two, rising rents. Both these issues are within the power of the government to tackle and while they have taken some actions they have clearly not done enough, fast enough .” He added: “We have to remember that we are not just talking about figures and statistics here. We must always highlight the human face behind each figure. Behind every figure is a person…a family..a man, a woman, a child…each of them who are suffering the ongoing trauma of being homeless every day.” Focus Ireland said the Government must ensure that the strategy for the private rented market - that is currently being drafted as one of the pillars of Rebuilding Ireland – has to include measures to help stablise rents in the short-term. He said: “There must also be action to stop the number of landlords leaving the business. The only step taken on this issue in the Budget was the 5% increased relief for landlords which is unlikely to change the mind of the increasing number of landlords selling – which is one of the main reasons many people are becoming homeless as many of the landlords are being forced to sell up by banks and other financial institutions. Allen added: “Focus Ireland is committed to working with the Government to tackle this crisis but we do not shy away from saying more can be done and more must be done now on this serious issue. We need clear targets and timelines for delivery of homes if we are to end the nightmare of homelessness for all the families and children around the country who are living through this trauma every single day.” Focus Ireland also added that these new figures illustrate that an average of 81 families have now become homeless each month so far in 2016 compared to 60 families per month last year.