The number of people who have no home or place to live has doubled.
A report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) finds that the number of homeless people has more than doubled over the past three years in counties Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare.
The report also found that close to fifty per cent have been homeless for more than a year.
Close to 300 hundred people, one in five under 20 years of age, are now sleeping rough on the streets.
In addition to those sleeping rough on the streets, there are almost three thousand people in counties Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare using homeless services or are on the local authorities homeless list. Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare represent one third of the overall population and 70 per cent of the homeless population in the country.
Mary Higgins, Director of the Homeless Initiative, says that while assessments of homelessness have been carried out four times in the last 10 years, no useful information was collected and nothing has happened to improve the services available to people who face being homeless.
According to the report,
More than 400 people have been homeless for the past five years.
Greg Maxwell, Director of Dublin Simon Community, breaks down the findings that show there are over one thousand homeless children in the counties covered by the report. While he acknowledges the crisis, he says that it is a situation that can be reversed through investment.
The country has money.
Minister for the Environment Bobby Molloy says that the purpose of the report was to establish the homeless figures to inform policy formulation. The minister said that a substantial amount of money had been secured for a programme of social housing the challenge was to get services in place.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 6 September 1999. The reporter is Deirdre McCarthy.
