A Fianna Fáil Minister has declined to say when the country’s record rate of homelessness will start to fall. 

In September, there were 14,760 people living in emergency accommodation - 274 more than in August.

By contrast, in September 2023, there were 12,827 people living in emergency accommodation, meaning homelessness has increased by 15% in just 12 months.

On The Hard Shoulder, James Lawless, Fianna Fáil’s candidate in Kildare North, declined to say when the figures might start to come down. 

“Homelessness is a very particular set of circumstances,” he said. 

“Obviously, increasing housing supply is a big part of that solution but there are also other complicating factors. 

“There’s a net increase in people coming into the country all of the time - a lot of the homelessness figures if we drill into them, we can see a lot of new arrivals. 

“We can see people can see people often with very difficult personal issues often in homelessness and it's very difficult to, maybe, get assistance to the people that need it. 

“So, there’s no one answer to the issue of homelessness.” 

A homeless person in Dublin. Image: Leon Farrell/RollingNews

Upon the formation of the current coalition in 2020, the housing portfolio was assigned to Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien. 

Since then, the rate of house building has increased - although prices and rents have also continued to surge. 

Minister Lawless said further increases in supply would tackle the housing crisis in the long-term. 

“We have built more houses than the previous two administrations put together - 125,000 houses,” he said. 

“In the last 12 months, the commencements hit 60,000; we’re talking about going to 60,000 [new homes a year] over the next term and we’re actually already hitting it in the commencements.” 

First time buyers

Minister Lawless also extolled a number of schemes the Government has put in place to help first-time buyers. 

“Tens of thousands of people will have already used some of the schemes that we have introduced to purchase their home,” he said. 

“A huge amount of first time buyers are using things like the Help To Buy, the First Home and Shared Equity Scheme - Sinn Féin want to abolish those schemes.” 

A report published by Daft.ie in August, found that the average property in Ireland now costs €1,922 a month to rent - a figure 7% higher than in August 2023.

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Main images shows a tent for homeless person. Picture by: Alamy.com