17,447 living in emergency accommodation, new figures show

In May 2026, 17,447 men, women and children were living in emergency accommodation, according to the latest figures by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

In the 12 months since May 2025, there has been a 10.8% (1,700) increase in people living in emergency accommodation.

When broken down, the data shows 2,684 were families, which marks an 18.1% increase over the year. 5,583 of them were children, which is a 15.3% increase over the 12 months. 2,068 were 18-24 year olds, and 11.7% increase over the year. 271 were over 65, a 10.6% increase over the year.

Although there has been a decrease of 101 people since April 2026, it is the first decrease since 2025. At the same time, though, there were increases in numbers in the Midlands, the Mid-West, the North-West and the South-East.

Ber Grogan, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, said: “Over the last three weeks, the Simon Communities of Ireland has joined forces with other homeless charities and independent legal centres to raise serious concerns about elements of the proposed Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 and the potential impact on people experiencing homelessness. Any law that could lead to an increase in people being forced to sleep rough is simply not acceptable to us.

“Across Simon services, we regularly meet people who have been turned away from one local authority and told to try another. Some are fleeing violence, and services are already seeing an increase in rough sleeping. We need to be confident that any change in the law will not make that situation worse, and at the moment, we do not have the details needed to assess the impact of the proposed measures.

“The updates we have heard have only increased our concerns. There is still time for the Government to pause any elements of the Bill related to the 1988 Housing Act. This would be the first time in 38 years that there would be any changes to sections relating to homelessness. It is simply irresponsible to push those changes through without proper discussion, consultation, scrutiny and planning. The Minister has said that they intend to create a night-to-night ‘safety net’ for people who are refused emergency accommodation.

“Emergency homeless accommodation is supposed to be our ‘safety net’ for people who need it. It doesn’t make any sense that the Government is proposing changes to accessing homeless accommodation without any consultation on how, why, what and where such a safety net would operate.

“We are urging the Minister to pause this problematic Bill and to meaningfully engage with us and others in the sector. With figures decreasing across some areas, this is not the time to make our homelessness crisis deepen.”

The Simon Communities of Ireland is urging the Government to stop any preposed amendments to the Housing Act 1988, where the Minister intends to change eligibility for homeless accommodation.