Number of homeless kids in Galway ‘enough to fill a school’

Homeless services operator COPE Galway provided help to more than 500 children in 2016 – an “alarming” increase of almost 40% – a report to be released next week will outline.

The charity said the child homelessness figure was enough “to fill a school” and, in just one night taken as a snapshot, there were 93 kids in emergency accommodation.

The annual report will be launched on Monday, and will reveal that the homeless service worked with 702 adults and their 512 children who were experiencing homelessness.

Those figures are up from 659 adults (6.5%) and their 369 children (up 39% on 2015 figures).

The report will be launched by Dr Geoffrey Shannon, Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, and an expert on children’s rights.

COPE’s homeless services provided support to 211 families (up 20% from 176 in 2015 and up 57% from 134 in 2014).

Chief Executive Officer Jacquie Horan said: “The children of Galway began a new school year this month – it is heart-wrenching to think that the numbers of children in our community who experienced the effects of homelessness in 2016 would fill an entire school.

“Our dedicated family service and domestic violence teams have been working very hard to minimise the impact of homelessness on children as much as possible.

“However, becoming homeless is very often only the beginning of this traumatic experience for a child. Living in emergency accommodation, often in tourist accommodation such as hotels or B&Bs for extended periods of time, further compounds this trauma,” said Ms Horan.

Dr Shannon said homelessness can have a damaging effect on a child’s development.
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