Sinn Fein spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin TD has commented on the publication of the latest Dublin Regional Homeless Executive Homelessness Report.

He has said the report contains “deeply concerning family homelessness trends”.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive Homelessness report indicates that new family homeless presentations are trending steadily upwards.

“There were 19 more families accessing emergency homeless accommodation in Dublin in January this year compared to December 2021. In January 2022, it was 79 more families compared to January 2021.

“The number of new presentations also continues to grow, with 74 families entering emergency accommodation for the first time in January 2022, an increase of 34 on December 2021.

“The report also highlights that the number of exits of people from emergency accommodation is collapsing.

“Only 35 families exited emergency accommodation into new tenancies in January 2022. A year previously, the number of families exiting emergency accommodation was at 81. This represents a reduction of 56%.

“The report also shows that in the first month of 2022, 21% of families were in emergency accommodation more than two years. Many of these people have been homeless for three and in some cases four years.

“No one should be sleeping in emergency accommodation for longer than six months.

“The government has no plan to tackle this problem. It must accept that it has to increase the delivery of real social housing and housing first tenancies.

“It must also focus more on homeless prevention. Minister Darragh O’Brien must speed up the progress of Sinn Féin’s Family Homeless Prevention Bill and the Simon Communities Homeless Prevention Bill, both of which passed second stage in the Dáil late last year.”