Extent of Midlands child homelessness is revealed

 

There were over 100 children homeless in the midlands in the last week of January, new figures show.

Statistics published this week by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government also indicated that there were 111 homeless adults in the region during the same period.

It's up slightly from the 97 children and 109 adults homeless in the last week of December.

Nationally, the number homeless came close to the 10,000 mark, with 9,987 people, including 3,624 children, officially homeless.

Of the 111 adults homeless in the midlands, there were 53 in Offaly, 34 in Westmeath, 14 in Laois and 8 in Longford. No county breakdown is provided for children.

Minister Murphy said: “It is very disappointing and we remain in a very difficult situation where homelessness is heavily impacting on the lives of families and individuals. There was a decrease of people in emergency accommodation in December, which we understood at the time to be partly due to seasonal reasons, and so an increase in January was anticipated but that doesn’t mean it is acceptable."