According to latest figures released by one of the country’s leading homeless charities a staggering 363 children have been disgracefully made homeless in the first two months of this year.
The charity advocacy group Focus Ireland say a total 208 families have been left without a home to go too by the end of February, which is alarming given the fact that a total of 739 families were made homeless for the entire year of 2015. The latest and appalling statistics have angered the charity’s director of advocacy Mike Allen who says something needs to done immediately, Mr Allen told reporters: “It’s not enough for this caretaker government and the next government to say they want to tackle homelessness and name check it as a priority.” “They have to commit to a coherent set of actions required to achieve this urgently.”
However although the latest number of homeless families is appallingly shocking, the charity believe the situation would be much worse without their hard work as they actively support many families and help them move out of homelessness into secure housing.
Meanwhile Focus Ireland’s statistics have been supported by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive who earlier this week confirmed that the overall number of homeless children in the capital has doubled in the last year with 1,616 children in emergency accommodation compared to 803 in the year 2015.