Numbers of People Sleeping Rough in Dublin City Remain at High Levels

national | public consultation / irish social forum | press release Monday March 22, 2004 17:05 by Roughan Mac Namara - Focus Ireland rmcnamara at focusireland dot ie 9-12 High Street, Dublin 01 8815 900

Numbers of people sleeping rough in Dublin city centre remain at record high levels, according to a new survey conducted by homeless organisations. Two hundred and thirty seven (237) people sleep rough in Dublin on any given night. The survey co-ordinated by the Homeless Agency was carried out by Focus Ireland, Dublin Simon Community, Merchant’s Quay Ireland along with Dublin City Council and other homeless services.

Commenting on the results of the survey Declan Jones, Chief Executive of Focus Ireland said: “These figures show the number of people sleeping rough in Dublin has remained more or less static in recent years despite a Government strategy to specifically target this problem.”

The survey found that 237 people were sleeping rough in the city centre. The last official count of people who are homeless conducted by the ESRI and the Homeless Agency in 2002 found that three hundred and twelve (312) were sleeping rough in the Greater Dublin Area. The current survey only counted people sleeping rough in the city centre and does not include people rough sleeping in the suburbs. But these figures are unlikely to have gone down, given Dublin City Council’s recent policy of moving people who are homeless out of city centre locations.

Greg Maxwell, Director of Dublin Simon said: “Dublin Simon has succeeded in moving hundreds of people from the streets into emergency and other forms of accommodation in the last few years. However, the numbers of new people becoming homeless combined with lack of long-term housing for people in emergency accommodation has meant that numbers of rough sleepers remain at high levels. Rough sleeping will never be solved unless the Government makes a commitment to providing permanent, appropriate housing for people who are homeless, particularly single homeless people.”

A record total of 5,581 (DOE 2002) people are homeless in Ireland, with almost three thousand (2,900) adults and over eleven hundred (1,140) children homeless in Dublin. The vast majority live in emergency hostels and B&B accommodation on a night-by-night basis. Focus Ireland and Dublin Simon Community maintain the Government’s failure to provide enough permanent housing is forcing these people to remain homeless for longer than ever. Mr. Jones said: “If the people stuck living in emergency accommodation were moved into permanent housing it would quickly free up bed places and resources which could then be used to target the most marginalized people who are sleeping rough on a long term basis who often have additional problems. These people require targeted support services and not just a bed for the night if they are to have any chance of staying off the streets.”