<p>
	Rates of child homelessness increased by 55% last year, despite government efforts to tackle the housing crisis, it has emerged, writes Evelyn Ring of the Irish Examiner.</p>
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	The children&rsquo;s charity Barnardos said children were the invisible victims of the housing crisis</p>
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	Last December, there were 2,505 children registered as homeless across Ireland, compared to 1,616 during the same month in 2015, a 55% increase.</p>
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	Over the same 12 month period, adult homelessness across the country rose by 28%, so child homelessness is growing at double this rate.</p>
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	The Barnardos chief executive, Fergus Finlay, said homeless children suffered terribly.</p>
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	&ldquo;Imagine packing your bag and going with your family to present to the authorities as homeless,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	Children became overwhelmed by the change in their lives and afraid of what their future contained.</p>
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	The Barnardos head of advocacy, June Tinsley, said the housing crisis was escalating at a ferocious pace and the effect of homelessness on children was profound.</p>
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	&ldquo;It affects every aspect of their development: Mental and physical health, social and emotional development, their education, and their key relationships,&rdquo; she said.</p>
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	Barnardos has called for a redoubling of efforts to ensure families are moved out of hotel accommodation and into more stable and appropriate accommodation as soon as possible.</p>
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	&ldquo;Until we have a response that is adaptive, swift, and far-reaching, we will struggle to keep pace, and we will struggle to protect these children,&rdquo; said Ms Tinsley.</p>
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	A mother living in overcrowded private accommodation says her daughter, who is only nine years old, has to share a single bed with her.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;I had to move in here after my relationship broke down. It was advertised as a flat, but it&rsquo;s a bedsit with only a single bed, a hot plate for cooking, and a small ensuite,&rdquo; she said.</p>
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	&ldquo;Imagine having to share a single bed with your mother when you&rsquo;re nine and having nowhere to play or do your homework except on the floor?&rdquo;</p>
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	The woman contacted Barnardos, and they helped her daughter understand the situation and build up her self-confidence.</p>
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	&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve helped link her in with a local afterschool club. It&rsquo;s early days yet, but I hope she returns to being a happy, sociable child. She&rsquo;s only nine. She didn&rsquo;t ask for this.&rdquo;</p>
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	Another child said she had not told any of her school friends that she was living in a hotel because they might tease her.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	(Published by the Irish Examiner on the 16th February 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/55-surge-in-children-registered-as-homeless-777347.html">https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/55-surge-in-children-registered-as-homeless-777347.html</a></p>
