Local authorities are being told to put long-term homeless families with children to the top of the queue for social housing, as part of a concerted Government effort to reduce the number of children in emergency accommodation.
Senior Government figures now believe levels of child homelessness will be how the public judges its record on the housing crisis.
It is understood there is a view within the Government that it serves the greater good to lift children out of homelessness, ahead of the single adults who make up the overwhelming majority of those on social housing lists.
The shift in focus towards child homelessness comes as senior figures are noting a rise in the number of people from outside the State who make up a significant proportion of the homeless population. The Government’s landmark housing plan, which was published on Thursday, warned that there is an increasing proportion of people from outside the Republic who are presenting as homeless, including those who have left international protection or who have travelled to Ireland for family reunification.
The report said “more than half” of the households in emergency accommodation in Dublin, where the housing crisis is most acute, originate from outside Ireland. The Department of Housing is now working with local authorities to collect data “to further increase the understanding of the risk factors that are driving this trend”.
The new plan – Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030 – also says that from 2026 on, the Department of Housing will “examine” if local authorities’ social housing schemes are “addressing the needs of households experiencing homelessness and in particular families with children”.
Throughout the five-year plan, local authorities will have to work with the Department of Housing to “ensure that sufficient allocations of social housing are being made to reduce long-term family homelessness”. The social housing schemes will be reviewed by the Government to examine how many such houses are being allocated to families in emergency accommodation.
Speaking at the unveiling of the housing plan on Thursday, Tánaiste Simon Harris said he had concerns about how local authorities were currently allocating social housing.
“I’ve had significant concerns for quite a period of time in terms of how social homes are being allocated and not prioritising children and families, and that changes under this plan,” Mr Harris said.
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According to the Summary of Social Housing Assessments – an annual Housing Agency report – single adults made up the majority of households on the social housing waiting list last year. The report said this group “grew proportionately from 57.4 per cent of the total in 2023 to 60.8 per cent in 2024”. One-parent family households represented the second-highest group, representing around a fifth of those on the waiting lists.
Advocacy groups including Focus Ireland have been pointing out to the Government that child homelessness is one part of the housing crisis that could and should be ended.
Nutritional and educational issues facing homeless children who eat and do their homework in hotel rooms will also be addressed under a new child and family homelessness plan.
That action plan, based on the principles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, will be set up by the Government. Its main aims will be to prevent children becoming homeless, and to limit the amount of time they spend in homelessness.
According to the housing report, “the plan will also put in place additional supports for parents and expectant mothers who are experiencing homelessness in order to support the whole family”.
Legislation will also be brought forward to make sure the best interests of the child are considered in the “decision-making process on accommodation for households experiencing homelessness”.
This is a measure that the Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, had called for, telling the Oireachtas Committee on Housing in June that the State should ensure that case managers and child-support workers “be made available across all types of emergency accommodation” within one week of a child entering homelessness.
