Homelessness numbers update released

Thread four. Previous threads (one, two, three) with previous reports/charts are locked.

First the summary charts showing the trends for numbers of Adults and numbers of Familys (Adults and Children) updated with the numbers for the latest month:



The Latest Report
The Homelessness Report February 2020 has been released:
https://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/homeless_report_-_february_2020.pdf

I'm thinking this is the final set of numbers from just before the impact of the COVID-19 Coronavirus. The earliest case of it being confirmed as being in Ireland that I've seen mentioned was 29 Feb (wiki page: 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the Republic of Ireland).

Homelessness (Adults)


Family Homelessness


Recent releases relating to Homelessness
The Children's Rights Alliance has released their Report Card 2020.
They give the country an F on Child and Family Homelessness linking to The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This one reminds me of the multiple other previous releases from organisations raising concerns about childrens development and health.

• https://www.childrensrights.ie/content/report-card-2020
• direct link to Chapter 2: Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

The lowest grade was awarded to ‘Child and Family Homelessness’, which received an F for the second year in a row.

The European Commission has released their Country Report Ireland 2020.
There is discussion of homelessness and causes such as supply constraints in many places in the document.
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2020-european_semester_country-report-ireland_en.pdf

Housing scarcity remains a pressing issue, including rising homelessness due to shortages of social housing. In November 2019, over 10,000 people were counted as homeless, including 3,752 children.

Following the recent election, homelessness was labelled one of the influencing factors in the results:
Varadkar: Voters 'distressed and offended' by FG housing response
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/varadkar-voters-distressed-and-offended-by-fg-housing-response-985345.html

“I think housing homelessness was a really important issue in the election that actually, a lot of people are very distressed and offended at the fact that we didn't make more progress when it comes to homelessness,” he said.

Early in March, A young man died outside the Dublin City Council Civic Offices:
Young homeless man found dead on Dublin street
https://www.irishpost.com/news/young-homeless-man-found-dead-dublin-street-181437

The un-named man, who is believed to be in his late 20's to early 30's, was discovered outside the Civic Offices early on Tuesday morning, 10 March.
Gardaí and emergencty services were called to the scene but he was sadly pronounced dead.

COVID-19 Coronavirus
I've only seen one set of numbers and it's from 5 days ago and everything is moving so fast on this. At the time it was "6 confirmed cases within homeless services" the same day that the announement was "1,819 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland" (not the whole Island). The 6 were listed in this tweet:
https://twitter.com/AnthonyICHH/status/1243287427374030850

Today I saw that "80 people slept rough on the streets of Dublin last night" from this tweet:
https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1244975168117710849

The Government has had 3 press releases relating to homelessness and COVID-19 I think. I've posted about them on the coronavirus and the property effect thread.

• 21 March - Work continues on protecting those in Emergency Accommodation during the Covid 19 Crisis
  https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/covid-19-coronavirus/work-continues-protecting-those-emergency-accommodation-during-covid-19
• 29 March - Further Update on Homeless Services in light of new restrictions
  https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/covid-19-coronavirus/further-update-homeless-services-light-new-restrictions
• 31 March - Statement from Minister Murphy on February 2020 Homeless Figures
  https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/statement-minister-murphy-february-2020-homeless-figures

Supply of homes
The solution has always been "to increase the supply of homes". The latest report does not have commentary where previous reports did. They used to include:

The long term solution to the current homeless issue is to increase the supply of homes

or:

The root cause of increased homelessness is the supply shortage across the housing sector, which in turn is a result of the recent economic collapse and the associated damage to the construction sector. Accordingly the long-term solution to the current homeless issue is to increase the supply of homes.