Dublin Simon Community Statement on Latest Dublin Homelessness Figures

Dublin Simon Community has warmly welcomed the significant reduction in December homelessness figures in the Dublin region revealed in the December 2019 Homelessness report, released this evening by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

The Homelessness figure for Dublin has dropped below 7,000 to 6,821 and the overall national figure has dropped below 10,000 for the first time since early 2019.

This represents a reduction in the Dublin region of 470 over November 2019. The number of homeless families in Dublin is currently 1,162 compared to 1,252, 90 fewer families than in the same period in 2018.

CEO of Dublin Simon Community, Sam McGuinness, said: “These latest figures, plus the monthly reporting in Dublin are significant and are more than a seasonal reduction.

“It confirms a trend in the reduction in families accessing emergency accommodation in Dublin in 2019. There are also reductions in the period of time that families are spending in emergency accommodation before finding a home. Also notable is that in Dublin, the vast majority of families and children moving out of homelessness are going into local authority housing rather than the private rented sector.

“These latest figures are highly significant and come as a direct result of the commitment of parties working together to achieve progress including NGOs, AHBs, the DRHE and the Outreach service provided by Dublin Simon Community.

“There is much work still to be done and the figures for homeless singles remains high at 4,268 in Dublin and 6,309 nationally. The shortage of one bedroom units is a critical ongoing issue is preventing single homeless people from moving on from emergency accommodation.”