Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin TD has called on the Minister for Housing to urgently intervene, as for the first time in months the number of families accessing homeless services in April has risen.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“The number of people accessing homeless services in April has risen compared to the previous month and now stands at 8,082.

“When the ban on evictions was lifted on the 22nd April, Sinn Féin and others voiced our concern that this would have a direct impact on the number of families who would unfortunately lose their home in the private rental sector.

“We see this in the Department of Housing’s official homeless figures for April which shows the number of adults with children accessing homeless services has increased by twenty-two since March, with 1,356 accessing homeless services last month.

“This is coupled with an overall increase in the number of children sleeping in homeless accommodation which has risen by twenty-seven and is at 2,193 for April.

“The drop in the number of single adults experiencing homelessness is 27, which is welcome but it is still far too high at 4,533.

“The Minister for Housing cannot say he wasn’t warned about the impact of the lifting of the eviction ban and the ban on the issuing of notices to quit.

“We had gotten to the stage of seeing a steady decline in numbers thanks to the emergency measures put in place and it would be hugely concerning to see the numbers begin to rise again.

“Minister O’Brien must now urgently intervene and seek to keep families at risk of eviction in their homes. A simple measure that Sinn Féin and other have called for is for a ban on the issuing of vacant possession notices to quit when a home is being sold.”