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The startling figure has prompted renewed calls for urgent, integrated action as the Government prepares to publish its new national housing plan. Figures for September released by the Department of Housing show that 11,952 people are currently without a home in Dublin alone, a 12pc rise on the same period last year. The latest data also includes 1,732 families and 3,887 children living in emergency accommodation in the capital, figures that do not account for those sleeping rough, staying in domestic violence shelters, or those in so-called hidden homelessness, people sleeping in tents, cars, or on couches. Catherine Kenny, CEO of Dublin Simon Community, said the figures highlighted “the urgent need for a comprehensive housing plan that combines housing, health and social supports to help people leave homelessness for good”. “These are probably the last set of figures to be announced prior to the Government launching a new housing plan,” she said. “It is nothing short of shameful that more than 16,614 are currently living through the nightmare of homelessness, with 11,952 in Dublin alone. “Every number represents a person without the security of a home. We cannot afford further delays, the time for action is now. The Government must publish this in the coming weeks.” Ms Kenny said while she welcomed recent measures to accelerate building and increase housing supply, they offered “little comfort” to those currently living without a home. “These people need directed measures that can help them to exit homelessness in the foreseeable future,” she said. Dublin Simon has called for the new housing plan to prioritise social and affordable housing supply until it reaches at least 20pc of the national housing stock, with a fifth of allocations reserved for people experiencing long-term homelessness. It also wants additional resources for Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), reforms to capital funding models, and faster planning processes to deliver social homes. Meanwhile, the Salvation Army has warned that teenagers are becoming the “forgotten generation” of homelessness, saying life in emergency accommodation is severely restricting for young people at a crucial stage of development. “The focus tends to fall on adults and small children, but teenagers find emergency accommodation a particular struggle,” said Anthony Byrne, service manager at Houben House in Harold’s Cross. “The normal rites of passage, such as a need for extra privacy, the ability to socialise and have their friends around, dating and relationships, very often do not apply to them. Being a teenager in normal circumstances with hormonal and emotional changes is difficult enough; they simply do not have that freedom of expression to carve out their own identities.” Houben House, which accommodates around 100 teenagers, runs football matches, exercise programmes and game and music nights to help ease the pressures of communal living. “The reality is that nothing will compare to their own space in an independent living environment,” Mr Byrne said. “In homeless hubs, many adolescents also take on a parental role to look after younger siblings, so their normal teenage years are impacted.” The Salvation Army, one of the largest homeless accommodation providers in the capital, delivers around 250,000 bed nights per year across its six family and individual centres in Dublin.
