The number of homeless people in the State has topped 17,000, a new record high, according to the latest figures from the Department of Housing.
A total of 17,112 individuals were living in emergency accommodation in January, up 378 from December, an increase of 2.3 per cent.
The number of homeless families showed an even greater proportional increase last month. There were 2,555 families in emergency accommodation in January, an increase of 77 on December, or 3.1 per cent.
Homelessness has increased year on year. This time last year, there were 15,286 people in emergency accommodation, including 4,603 children in 2,164 families.
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While the total number of people accessing emergency accommodation has increased by just under 12 per cent for the year, the number of homeless families has risen by more than 18 per cent.
The total number of homeless children now stands at 5,319, a 2.5 per cent monthly increase and a 15.6 per cent yearly increase from January 2025.
The latest figures show a reversal in the small reduction in the numbers of homeless people in December, when 16,734 people were accessing local authority-managed emergency accommodation, down from 16,996 in November. The December figures included 2,478 families, down from 2,525 in November.
Last year was the worst year on record for homelessness, with the number of individuals and families accessing emergency accommodation increasing month on month.
Speaking at the launch of a Clúid Housing development in Ballyvolane, Co Cork, Tánaiste Simon Harris said: “The homeless figures are very high, of that there’s no doubt.”
Acknowledging the figures were still going in the wrong direction, he said: “And that’s why we have to get people in the Dáil to stop standing up saying we have a housing emergency ... and then running back to their constituency to object to housing.
“And that’s hypocrisy. Every politician needs to step up here.”
Organisations working with homeless people have called on the Government to act with greater urgency to tackle the crisis.
Focus Ireland chief executive Pat Dennigan said it was “disgraceful to see yet another record number of people homeless as the total rises above 17,000 for the first time”. The increase in the number of homeless children was “heartbreaking,” he said.
“Homelessness hurts everyone but we know it hurts children the most and we are working hard in partnership with the State and other NGOs every day to protect people while they are homeless,” he said.
“Even as the crisis is deepening it must be remembered that homelessness can be solved if the right policies are in place and we are ending homelessness for families and individuals every day. However, we need a shift in policy to ease this human crisis.”
Dublin Simon Community said the first figures of the year underlined that the crisis remains deeply entrenched. “Sadly, another social injustice milestone has been reached with record homeless figures,” its chief executive Catherine Kenny said.
“For the thousands counted by the system, and the many others outside of official record, there needs to finally be a sustained response to what is truly the crisis of a generation.”
She noted, in Dublin, one in four homeless households comes from private rental housing. “As new rental regulations come into effect, it is important to recognise how closely homelessness is tied to conditions in the private rental market.”
Under the new rental rules, tenancies started after March 1st will have a minimum term of six years, but landlords will be able to reset rents to market rates in new tenancies started after this date.
[ Minister for Housing expects rents to fall after recent reform of rulesOpens in new window ]
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the figures should be viewed in the context of the new rental regulations, which one institutional landlord has said could lead to a surge in rental incomes.
“Behind every statistic is a family pushed to breaking point. Yet still the Government continues to double down on the same policy platform of ever greater subsidies for developers coupled with letting the market rip for landlords,” congress officer for the Raise the Roof Campaign Paul Gavan said. “These are the policies that have locked out an entire generation from renting never mind buying a home of their own.”
Opposition politicians have also called for the Government to change tack on their rental policies.
Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said the struggle to find accommodation will become even greater once the new rental measures come into effect from Monday.
“Instead of progressing policy and legislation that would adequately address a crisis which has created dystopian conditions for a generation of renters and adults trapped in their childhood bedrooms, the Government has introduced disastrous rental measures which will allow landlords to increase rents between tenancies.”
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said: “How many more people will be forced into homelessness before Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael realise that it is their housing policies that are driving this crisis and that until these policies change, the problem will continue to get worse?”
Labour housing spokesman Conor Sheehan said the Government “must stop defending the indefensible, freeze rents, accelerate public housing delivery, and bring forward measures to drive homelessness down rather than allowing it to climb towards 20,000 and beyond”.
