Huge increase in number of homeless children in February

"This is the largest jump in child homelessness in a single month we have seen in two years."

The number of homeless children in Ireland soared in the second month of the year, new figures show. There were 3,755 children living in emergency accommodation in February. This number represents an increase of 488 children on the previous month and is a 47 per cent increase on the same time last year. Barnardos has called on the state to change tactics in its fight against homelessness. "The Government must accept that their current strategies aren’t working and take action to stem the tide of child homelessness," said June Tinsley, Head of Advocacy with Barnardos. "Greater preventative measures such as rent certainty and security of tenure must be implemented as an emergency response." Meanwhile, the number of homeless people in Ireland is now estimated to be close to 10,000. Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy says there are new reasons for people, and especially for families, becoming homeless other than a lack of housing. "We see when we look at planning permissions, commencement notices, registration of large units, investment in residential property - all of those figures are heading in the right direction. "But it was brought to my attention in the course of the last two months, by the Dublin Regional Homelessness Executive, that there may be new trends developing, new reasons for presentations, particularly when it comes to families, and that is something we're investigating at the moment."