‘Housing for All’ Must Stop Single Adult Homelessness

As single adult homelessness figures continue to rise, Dublin Simon Community urges the Government to prioritise the lack of availability of one-bed units especially for people who are homeless as part of its new housing and homelessness strategy

Dublin, 30 July 2021:  Figures for the number of people in Emergency Accommodation in June released today by the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage showed that 5,753 people are homeless in Dublin, a reduction of 6% in a year. But single adults in homelessness continue to rise, with a figure of 3,024 single adults, an increase of 4.3% from June 2020.

   Dublin Simon Head of Policy, Pat Greene, said: “We are still experiencing a spiralling of single people in the capital becoming homeless with an average of 142 single adults becoming newly homeless in Dublin each month this year.  This is higher than the average in 2020 and today’s figures show further evidence of constant increases “

   “Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, has committed to addressing this crisis in the new housing and homeless strategy, ‘Housing for All’ in which we hope to see a focus on prevention and move-ons out of emergency accommodation into housing.  These are the fundamentals, to maximise impact homeless charities can and should have a specific and joint role to play with state agencies in combating the rise in homelessness.

 “The previous housing strategy, ‘Rebuilding Ireland’, was rightly about housing targets and reducing homelessness.  However, in the five years since its publication homelessness peaked, followed by a reduction driven by fewer homeless families and children, this was due in part to Covid measures, at the same time the number of singles entering homelessness has sadly increased.

 “For ‘Housing For all’ to be successful it must target housing delivery, reduce single homelessness and address the cost and affordability of housing for everyone. We await its publication with anticipation and enthusiasm”, added Greene.