6,259 Men, Women & Children Enter Second Lockdown in Dublin Emergency Accommodation 

Dublin Simon Community has responded to the September 2020 Homeless Report with a stark reminder that most of the 6,259 people recorded as homeless in Dublin this September are in a second lockdown in emergency accommodation.

According to the report, released today by the Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government, those recorded in emergency accommodation in Dublin in September 2020 include:

• 4251 total adults
• 2,994 single adults
• 865 families
• 2,008 children

Dublin Simon Community CEO Sam McGuinness said:

“Since the first lockdown in March 2020, we have seen a 22% decrease in the number of families in emergency accommodation. While we strongly welcome this consistent drop in families and acknowledge the positive steps taken by the Minister for Housing to re-introduce the ban on evictions  during Level 5, unfortunately, the number of single people stuck in emergency accommodation has continued to rise over the same period.

“Since March, while there are 747 less people in Dublin emergency accommodation, the remainder, 6,259 have not moved on to a home of their own and are lodged in a bottlenecked system. Since March, they have remained in some version of the same shared accommodation, cut off from friends and family and are now entering the second lockdown.”

Senior Manager for Emergency Services Claire McSweeney added:

“Emergency accommodation is not a home. It’s busy and challenging and to facilitate social distancing, many clients are having to spend a lot of time in their rooms. Since March, across our services, we have been creative in how we deliver necessary supports and keep clients engaged and entertained. 

“We all know this lockdown is different. The sense of pandemic fatigue and mental exhaustion affecting wider society is completely heightened as people remain isolated and anxious in emergency accommodation. While we have had successful move-ons over the last seven months, we need more accommodation options for couples and singles and we need them now.”