The next government has been urged to be more ambitious on housing after new official figures showed the number of homeless people in Ireland rose to 14,760 last month.
The figures from the Department of Housing for September showed there were 4,561 children and 2,133 families in emergency accommodation.
It was a 1.9% increase on the previous month, when 14,486 people were homeless, and a 15% increase on the same month last year.
During the third quarter of the year, there was an increase in the number of households leaving emergency accommodation through new tenancies being created, with 862 adults and 327 families using this option.
Opposition politicians have accused the government of having “no political will” to solve the housing crisis, saying that there was “no end in sight” to rises in house prices, which are increasing at around 10% a year.
Executive director of the Simon Communities Wayne Stanley said that these could be the last homeless figures released before people vote.
He said the next government “has to take a proactive approach” and “be ambitious” by pledging to end homelessness by 2030.
“We are fortunate that the Housing Commission has provided a clear and comprehensive plan for success, and that there are funds available to the next Government to implement the plan fully,” he said.
“This is fortunate for the political party who leads the next Government, but it also means that if they fail to seize this opportunity to address the homelessness crisis, it will be an unforgiveable dereliction of duty.”
Catherine Kenny, chief executive of Dublin Simon Community, said that since the Dail was last dissolved in 2020 homelessness has increased by 41%.
“While there is no silver bullet, a future government needs to deliver a real integrated response,” she said.
“This must be a combined effort across government departments, in areas including health, equality, social protection and others.”
Focus Ireland chief executive Pat Dennigan said that because homelessness has risen for almost every month in the past three years, the Government “seems to have concluded that this is a problem that cannot be solved”.
“We need at least 50,000 homes built annually, with 15,000 as social homes, tailored to real household needs, from single-person units to large family homes.
“By 2030, no one should face long-term homelessness. I urge the government to set 2030 milestones under the EU’s Lisbon Declaration and commit funding for this vision.
“Additionally, we must improve living conditions for those experiencing homelessness, especially vulnerable groups like families and youth, by enacting legislation that prioritises the welfare of children in housing responses.”
The housing crisis and record levels of homelessness is set to become a major election issue as parties gear up for a polling date in four weeks’ time.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said previously that the release of the next homelessness figures possibly taking place on the date of the general election – Friday November 29 – “wouldn’t be part of my consideration” on when the poll should be held.
“I’ve said to you very honestly today as well, that homelessness remains the number one challenge. (There is) no question of setting an election date on a different day, or whatever.”
New housing targets are expected to be unveiled shortly for the coming years, with an average of 30,000 new homes built a year expected to increase to at least 50,000 homes annually for the coming years.
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Labour Leader Ivana Bacik said Ireland was facing “nothing short of a national crisis”.
“The state has the resources, but not the political will, to solve this housing emergency. It is simply unacceptable, and it speaks to a government that has consistently failed to deliver on its promises.
“Their Housing for All plan has fallen apart.”
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said there was “no end in sight to the spiral of unaffordability” of housing.
“The housing crisis is affecting every aspect of our society.
“Therefore, it is all the more shocking that the Central Statistics Office published data this week showing 21,634 houses and apartments were completed in the first nine months of this year, less than the 22,325 completed in the same period in 2023.
“It beggars belief that, despite the scale and devastating impacts of the housing crisis, the number of new homes built in 2024 is lower than the number built last year.
“This is what Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have delivered and this is what they will continue if they are returned to power.
“We need to end the 100-year reign of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael and to implement a radical new housing policy based on homes for need, not for greed.”
Aontu leader Peadar Toibin said the government was “failing on absolutely every front” on housing.
“All the statistics are going in the wrong direction. The government cannot continue to pretend that they’re trying their best or that we’re making small progress – this is not true.
“We are experiencing regression. For every day this government has been in office the situation has been getting worse”.