Sarah Slater
There are 177 homeless families living in hotels in Dublin, latest figures show.
At the end of May, according to Dublin City Council (DCC) the families were being accommodated in hotels across the Dublin region - a rise of 63 families from the end of December last year.
The figures were released to Independent councillor and former Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke in this month’s monthly Council meeting.
Figures released by the City Council’s Region Homeless Executive figures at the end of December last year, showed there were 114 families residing in commercial hotels. In January 2021, that number was 175.
The highest number was in March 2017 when the number of families in commercial hotels reached 871.
Increase
According to the Department of Housing and Local Government approximately 413 families presented as homeless in the Dublin region in the first four months of this year, an increase of 8 per cent on the corresponding period in 2021 which stood at 381.
Some 245 families entered various types of emergency accommodation in the Dublin region over the same period, an increase of 91 over the same number of months for last year.
Cllr Burke also queried the Council on how many homeless families in hotels will be offered homes before the year ends.
Mary Hayes, director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive explained that “it is not possible to give an accurate figure for the full year. There have been 117 families housed from Emergency Accommodation from January to May 2022.
“There are currently 115 families under offer for Social Housing from Emergency Accommodation. This will be kept under constant review and we can report back an accurate figure for 2022 in early 2023.”
Alternatives
Ms Hayes, previously said that they are working with the other local authorities to develop “alternatives to hotels with exits to housing the preferred option and contracted accommodation under a Service Level Agreement where this is required.”
Ms Hayes explained that DRHE will be undertaking research to examine duration and exits and, in particular, to examine if factors such as ineligibility for social housing, ethnicity or large family sizes are affecting families’ ability to exit homelessness.
However, Cllr Burke slammed the Council and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and the government for the rise in figures saying, “the increase in numbers in emergency and temporary accommodation shows that their policies have failed again.
“They need to stop telling us they are trying to solve the housing crisis but show us how they are addressing it”.
