37% of adults accessing emergency accommodation in the Midwest were waiting more than 6 months to exit homelessness.
The latest figures from the Department of Housing shows the number of homeless adults moving into more permanent accommodation in the region, dropped by almost 30% in the first three months of the year, compared to the same time in 2019.
The Housing Department’s quarterly progress report reveals that between January and March this year, 40 people in Clare and Limerick moved from emergency accommodation into rented properties or local authority lettings.
That’s down from 57 in the first quarter last year.
At the end of March, 120 people were waiting six months or more to move out of emergency accommodation, with 208 more people waiting less than six months.
By the end of April, the number of homeless adults in the region dropped to 330, with 62 of those in Clare.
It represents a 13% drop in the space of a month, but the number of children in emergency accommodation in the Midwest rose in April from 133 to 144.
Nationally, there were more 9,335 homeless people, including more than 3,000 children and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy says there’s been a “huge effort” to ensure people have safe accommodation throughout the pandemic.
