Homeless numbers in Galway at a new high, say charities

Galway City Tribune – Galway’s homelessness crisis continues to spiral with new official figures confirming the numbers of people accessing emergency accommodation has reached record levels.

And local charities working at the coalface claim that the crisis is far worse than official Government statistics suggest.

The Department of Housing’s June 2018 Homeless Report reveal that there are 499 people living in emergency accommodation in the West, with the vast majority of them in Galway.

The figure includes men, women and children who are being housed in B&Bs, hotels, hostels and other emergency residential facilities because they have no place else to go.

The report doesn’t include the numbers of people who are sleeping rough on the city’s streets, sofa surfers and the ‘hidden homeless’. It also does not include, for example, more than 100 individuals who are being housed in transitional or longer-term homes owned by Galway Simon.

The June figures show that 263 of the 292 homeless adults in the West were in Galway; 25 were in Mayo and four Roscommon.

There are 207 homeless children in the West which is an increase of 50% on the same month last year. They do not give a county breakdown but at least 80% of the homeless children in the West are in Galway.

Youth homelessness (aged 18-25) in the West grew by 30% between June 2017 and June 2018, while the national average grew by 13.7%.

Karen Golden, CEO of Galway Simon Community, said under 25s now account for almost half the number of people living in emergency accommodation in the West.

“Youth homelessness has been on the rise in Galway for a number of years now and this is something we see directly through the demand for our services. In 2016, we set up a dedicated Youth Service to respond to this need and already this year we have housed 15 young people experiencing homelessness and supported others who are at risk of homelessness,” she said.

COPE Galway has also pointed out that the Government figures underestimate the problem as they do not take account of the 585 Traveller families living on unauthorised sites.

“COPE Galway are fully supportive of the efforts being made by Government to address the current housing shortage and homelessness crisis but under-reporting the extent of the need is not helpful to anyone,” a spokesperson said.
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