<p>
	New figures shows 2,137 children in emergency accommodation in Dublin</p>
<p>
	The numbers of homeless children in Dublin, and nationally, are now at their highest rate since records began.</p>
<p>
	The latest figures, published on Tuesday by the Department of Housing, show there were 2,137 children in emergency accommodation in Dublin during the week of March 20th-26th, with a national total of 2,563 homeless children.</p>
<p>
	The Dublin figure compares with 2,129 in February, and represents a 24 per cent increase on the March 2016 figure of 1,723 homeless children in the capital.</p>
<p>
	Nationally, last month&rsquo;s figure compares with 2,546 in February &ndash; a 28.5 per cent increase on the 1,994 homeless children in March 2016 across the State.</p>
<p>
	Minister for Housing Simon Coveney has reiterated his pledge that there will be no homeless child accommodated in a hotel or B&amp;B by July 1st.</p>
<p>
	Sinn F&eacute;in spokesman on housing, Eoin &Oacute; Broin, however, said it was clear Mr Coveney was &ldquo;failing homeless families&rdquo;. He said there had been 11 &ldquo;straight months&rdquo; of homelessness increases.</p>
<p>
	A spokesman for the department said that although homelessness continued to increase, &ldquo;much was being done to address homelessness and secure sustainable tenancies for homeless households. For example, housing authorities assisted in more than 3,000 sustainable exits from homelessness during 2016&rdquo;.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	&lsquo;Spring count&rsquo;</p>
<p>
	The publication of family homelessness data coincided with the publication of figures which show the number of rough-sleepers in Dublin increased by 35 per cent in a year.</p>
<p>
	The &ldquo;spring&rdquo; rough-sleeper count, conducted on the night of April 4th, found 138 people on the capital&rsquo;s streets as well as 57 people on roll-out beds on the floor of the Merchants Quay night cafe, bringing the number of people unable to access an emergency bed on the night to 195.</p>
<p>
	These figures compare with 102 sleeping rough, and 69 in the night cafe, on April 24th, 2016, the night of the last &ldquo;spring count&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	The latest figures represent a 3 per cent decrease on the 142 people found sleeping rough on November 22nd, the night of the &ldquo;winter count&rdquo;. However, this slight decrease is offset by the fact that an additional 220 emergency beds have been provided in Dublin since that count.</p>
<p>
	In addition to the 195 adults unable to access emergency beds on April 4th, there were 3,093 homeless adults in emergency accommodation &ndash; of which 1,355 were accompanied by 2,041 homeless children. The total homeless population in Dublin was 5,329.</p>
<p>
	Not included in the count was a group of Romanian men, thought to number about 20, who had arrived in Dublin in recent weeks having apparently been promised work in construction. A Dublin Region Homeless Executive spokeswoman said a team had been working with the men and more than half had &ldquo;now been successfully repatriated&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	Of the 138 people found on the streets, 72 per cent were in Dublin city, with the rest found outside the city area, in Finglas, south Dublin and D&uacute;n Laoghaire. A total of 85 were Irish nationals, 13 non-Irish and the nationality of 40 could not be ascertained on the night.</p>
<p>
	Pat Doyle, chief executive of the Peter McVerry Trust, described the latest figures as &ldquo;disappointing&rdquo; saying they underlined the challenges in securing housing for people to move out of homelessness.</p>
<p>
	The twice-annual rough-sleeper counts are the only official counts and are conducted by the Peter McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland charities under the aegis of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by the Irish Times on the 25th April 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/number-of-homeless-children-reaches-record-high-1.3061244">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/number-of-homeless-children-reaches-record-high-1.3061244</a></p>
