6th January 2023
11,542 people face into the New Year in homelessness – Simon Communities of Ireland
11,542 people living in emergency homeless accommodation are facing into 2023 in homelessness. With another record high number of people in homelessness for a fifth consecutive month, the Simon Communities of Ireland are highlighting the need for more direct action to alleviate homelessness before the moratorium on evictions is lifted in less than 12 weeks.
The 11,542 men, women and children in homeless emergency accommodation in November represents an increase of 1.27% (145 people) in one month and a 26.85% increase (9,099 people) since this time last year.
- 1,616 were families – this is 15 (1%) more than the previous month (1,601 families)
- 5,423 were single adults – this is an increase of 103 (1.94%) on the previous month (5,320 single adults). This is a record high number of single adults in homelessness.
- 3,494 were Children/Dependents – this is an increase of 14 (0.4 %) on the previous month (3,480 dependents)
- 1,371 were Young People aged 18-24 – this is an increase of 4.02% on the previous month (1,318), and up 260 (23.4%) year on year from 1,111 in November 2021. This is a record high number of young people in homelessness.
- There was a record number of adults (8,048), adult women (2,978), adult men (5,070) people aged 25-44 (4,288), and people aged 45-64 (2,220)
Wayne Stanley, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, said:
“The actions taken while the current moratorium is in place will go a long way to defining what can be achieved in homelessness in the coming year. In the face of the homelessness crisis, the Government took the important step of bringing in the moratorium on evictions. Now we need to see momentum on the provision of secure affordable accommodation to those in homelessness in the coming weeks and throughout 2023. Otherwise, we are facing into ongoing extensions and renewals of the eviction ban and that’s not a long-term solution.
It is timely to reflect that 11,542 people living in emergency accommodation only a year ago seemed unthinkable. 2023 needs to be a year of delivery for those at the sharpest end of the ongoing housing crisis or we will see the unthinkable surpassed and redefined each month.
In the short term, this means doing more with what we have, and looking to the allocation of current local authority housing and vacancy in the general housing stock.
We need to see more innovation in housing provision in 2023. We welcome the focus on rapid build homes and will be calling on Government to ensure that innovation in this area is driven forward. We would also highlight again the need for the insertion of a right to housing in our constitution.”
For further information contact Robyn Keleghan 085 8001275 /communications@simoncommunity.com
