Hundreds homeless, as Galway City Council houses lie empty

Galway City Council – A ‘census’ has recorded more than 170 households living in emergency accommodation operated by housing charity COPE Galway – at a time when around 70 City Council houses are lying idle or boarded up.

Over a 24-hour period between March 14 and 15, the census recorded a total of 174 Galway households – which includes families, couples and singles – in COPE accommodation.

The figure does not include homeless people who are supported by other agencies such as Galway Simon.

The first March census was carried out by COPE in 2015 and reported 51 households in emergency accommodation at that time.

“The growth in the numbers of homeless families is most notable in the intervening four years, up from 12 on one night in March 2015 to 89 on the night of March 14, 2019, while the number of single people in emergency accommodation doubled, up from 39 in 2015 to 79 in 2019,” spokesperson Martin O’Connor said.
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