Peter McVerry Trust, the national housing and homeless charity, has said it hopes a small increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in October is a blip rather than the start of an upward trend. It comes as the Department of Housing published the monthly homeless figures for October, which showed an increase of 81 people to 8,737 the number of people accessing emergency accommodation across the country.

Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust, said, “Any rise in the number of people impacted by homelessness is disappointing, our hope is that this is blip rather than the start of an upward trend.”

“Overall, the number of people in homelessness this year is down significantly on last year and we are hopeful that the figures for November and December will show further decreases as more houses come on stream and the eviction ban that has been in place under Level 5 stopped people becoming homeless.”

“The October homeless figures do not change what we need to do tackle the issue and get the numbers down in a sustained fashion. We need to continue to focus on housing delivery, more homes, and in particular more homes for single people are core to tackling the homeless crisis.

“When people are housed they have better health, they have greater stability and they are less likely to present to hospital or come to the attention of the judicial system. This comes about as a result of having a stable home and also the wraparound supports they need to make a success of their new homes.”

“If we want people to enjoy a better life then all of us working to deliver social housing have an obligation to cater for single people’s housing needs. There is room for better performance by councils and housing associations in delivering one-bed homes and it’s something I know Minister O’Brien is working to address.”