THE NUMBER OF people in emergency accommodation increased by 31 last month, reaching a new record high of 17,548.

It follows a 51% jump in eviction notices issued in the first quarter of this year, which coincided with the government’s sweeping changes to the rental sector from 1 March.

Homeless charity Depaul warned: “We are now beginning to see the real fallout from the rental legislation.”

Focus Ireland called on the government to increase funding for Tenant in Situ purchases to protect people receiving State housing supports, such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). 

According to the latest figures from the Department of Housing, 11,944 adults and 5,604 children were accessing emergency accommodation in April. 

Some 7,445 of those were single households, while 2,659 were family households. 

Homelessness levels have continued to rise, after the total first passed 17,000 at the start of 2026.

Figures published by the department for March saw a record 17,517 people in emergency accommodation.

The government’s new rental rules mean that if a property is vacant, the landlord can set the rent at market rates instead of increases being capped at 2%.

Pat Dennigan, chief executive of Focus Ireland, said: “While the government says they anticipated the increase in eviction notices following changes to rental rules, the problem is that they have done absolutely nothing to help the thousands of people now facing eviction.”

The scale of evictions and the misery it will create is truly shocking, with more than 7,000 notices issued in the first three months of the year.

“This points to the intense and growing pressure facing renters and underlines the strain on the housing system created by over a decade of failed housing policies.”

‘Beginning to see fallout’ from new rent rules

Depaul chief executive David Carroll said the scale of this crisis is like nothing we have seen before.

“We believe we are now beginning to see the real fallout from the rental legislation introduced in 2025 and the issue of affordability for families and individuals struggling to find accommodation in their price range,” he said.

“We are also hearing of a rise in smaller landlords selling up across Ireland which is intensifying pressure on the rental market and leaving a growing shortage of homes available to rent to this cohort. Leaving a market made up more and more by large institutional landlords.”

Dublin Simon Community CEO Catherine Kenny said that while rising numbers show the continued lack of progress in tackling homelessness at a national level, “we cannot lose focus on delivering the proven solutions that we know work and have been consistently delivering”.

The charity called on the government to prioritise immediate housing allocations for long-term emergency accommodation residents, accelerate the delivery of social and affordable homes and introduce a coordinated framework to tackle homelessness as the multi-layered crisis it is.

Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said the party has learned there are lengthy waiting lists for emergency accommodation hubs in some local authority areas which are at capacity.

“Those who cannot secure emergency accommodation are not counted in these figures. We can therefore assume that thousands of families who are on waiting lists are in hidden homelessness, sleeping rough or couch-surfing,” he said.

Hearne said the government must introduce a three-year ban on no-fault evictions for all tenancies and a blanket ban on rent increases.

Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said his party was launching a 12-point plan to tackle the homeless crisis, actions he said the government “must take now” to get people out of emergency accommodation more quickly. 

It includes publishing a five-year action plan to end long-term homelessness by 2030 with clear quarterly and annual targets, a ban on no-fault evictions and rent increases and an extension of the HAP scheme country-wide. 

“This is the kind of emergency action needed to tackle the homelessness crisis. Without it more and more adults and children will end up homelessness in the coming months,” he said.