Government homeless figures inaccurate, Eoin Ó Broin claims

Government homeless figures are inaccurate, Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin has claimed.

He said they did not include adults and children in Tusla-funded domestic violence shelters or step-down accommodation. They also failed to include foreign nationals in emergency accommodation funded by the new communities unit.

"Crucially, they do not include those families trapped in direct provision having got their stamp-four status but who are unable to secure alternative accommodation,'' Mr O Broin added.

He called on Minister for Housing Simon Coveney and his department to take a lead role in collating all the relevant data so the monthly records published would give an accurate picture of the number of families in all State-funded emergency accommodation.

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Mr Coveney said it was important to distinguish between numbers in emergency accommodation and those officially homeless.

“Sometimes the numbers are not the same,’’ the Minister added. “Sometimes people need to be in temporary care, perhaps because of domestic violence or mental health issues.’’

Mr Coveney said it was not necessarily the case the number in State care was the same as the number of people who had declared themselves homeless.

“Sometimes it is, however,’’ he added.

He said the official homeless data report, as published by the department monthly, was provided by housing authorities and produced using the pathway accommodation and support system, PASS, a single integrated national data information system.

Mr Coveney said it was not too long ago when homeless figures were only supplied annually.