Wed, Apr 15, 2026
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Green Party Chair, Cllr Janet Horner, has called for reform in how homeless services are funded by Government.
Speaking in response to figures from the Health Research Board that show that in 2022, 124 people lost their lives while experiencing homelessness, Cllr Horner referred to the report which said that the increase in people affected by homelessness in the past decade has seen an increasing reliance on Private Emergency Accommodation in Dublin:
“The Department of Housing focuses funding on provision of accommodation, while the HSE directs funding to addiction services, with a total lack of coordination between the two as it stands. Until these strands work more closely together, people will continue to fall through the cracks and lives will be lost. Currently these facilities provide room and board but offer little in terms of social supports. They work for some who have no additional mental health or addiction issues, but they can be very challenging environments for anyone with complex or additional needs.”
Figures on deaths in homelessness show the importance of more wrap around services including addiction services. 84% of those who died had a history of substance use. Cllr Horner continued:
“I have worked closely with people who have refused to go into Private Emergency Accommodation because they don’t feel safe, particularly if they are in recovery from addiction. It is important that we have much closer collaboration between addiction and recovery services and homelessness accommodation. Nobody should have their road to recovery made harder because of accessing emergency accommodation.”
The HRB report also said that close to 60% of all deaths in homelessness happened in Dublin. Cllr Horner concluded:
“Dublin’s North Inner City provides homeless services for the whole country - with one in 10 people experiencing homelessness living on Gardiner Street alone. There is an urgent need for a nationwide strategy to avoid concentration in such a small area of one city. People need to be able to access emergency accommodation and support services in their own areas. And in the meantime, we need a significant increase in support for services in the north inner city where so much need is currently concentrated.”