Updated 5pm

A GROUP WORKING with people who are homeless in Dublin counted 154 rough sleepers in the city overnight.

The numbers were recorded by four outreach teams covering the north and south inner city areas last night.

A similar count carried out in April of this year found 98 people sleeping rough in the streets of the capital.

Speaking this morning, director of Inner City Helping Homless said:”This is an unacceptable number which is constantly on the increase, and depicts a worrying trend.”

Flynn said investment in long term housing units was needed to address the problem, rather than short-term beds, and called for Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan to intervene.

“The Minister needs to address this immediately or Dublin will soon become Europe’s homeless capital.”

Housing supply

The four Dublin local authorities said today they they continue to be concerned about rough sleeping in the region. They said they rely on their own rough sleeper count, the most recent of which revealed 127 people were sleeping rough in April.

In a statement, they said the critical issue in relation to addressing the problem is housing supply. “It is widely recognised that there are very significant constraints in both the private rental sector and in relation to social housing supply,” they said.

The local authorities also said their own services are under “severe pressure” to meet the need in Dublin and are “working tirelessly to ensure that sleeping rough can be avoided”.

Action

Here are some of the things they said they have been doing to address homelessness in the city:

• 793 people were supported out of homelessness last year and into independent living.  There is also a target of providing 1100 tenancies in the Dublin region in 2014.
• The Housing First pilot demonstration project has successfully housed 35 participants.
• There has been an increased prioritisation of homeless households for social housing and further ring-fencing through engagement with NAMA.
• Negotiations have taken place with mainstream banking institutions on leasing opportunities.
• 80 new emergency beds will be in place by September this year.

However the local authorities confirmed that there are still a total of 143 families with dependant children living in hotels in Dublin because there is nowhere else for them to go.

- With additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy. 

First published 7.48am

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