Dublin South West and Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has stated that the recent figures published by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, highlight the dilemma facing families and individuals caught in frontline of the housing crisis.

The figures show that 6,525 people are now in emergency accommodation throughout the State.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“The release of these latest figures is a stark reminder that the housing and homelessness crisis is getting steadily worse. The number of people in emergency accommodation has increased overall by 40% since this time last year.

“These figures mean that 1,130 families, and worryingly 2,348 children, are now living in unsuitable emergency accommodation.

“Some are self-accommodating, which means that they have to source the accommodation every day or couple of days. This has huge ramifications for the family and the child in particular with no stability, no access to cooking facilities, many living in one room with all their belongings, and the added difficulty, because of location, of physically getting a child to school.

“The other pattern emerging from these figures is that more and more families are filling the emergency accommodation, as distinct from an individual, with a year-on-year increase of 70% for families and 72% for children.

“These are damning statistics and while the government’s Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness contains many worthwhile initiatives to provide supports for families with children in emergency accommodation, how these supports will be funded is still not clear.

“This latest increase in the numbers in emergency accommodation highlights the dilemma facing families and individuals caught in frontline of the housing crisis.”

ENDS