The first six months of the year have seen a marked increase in homelessness being experienced in Galway City, according to statistics released by COPE Galway.
On one night at the start of June COPE were working with 148 households who were either homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Included in these numbers were 157 adults and, worryingly, 94 children.
With the huge shortage of social housing and the increase in rent costs currently being experienced in Galway, this has “caused a near perfect storm”, according to Martin O’Connor, Assistant CEO of COPE Galway.
COPE Galway operates to provide services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, women and children experiencing domestic violence and for older people living independently in the community.
The services provided by the charity focus on working with and supporting individuals to address underlying issues which contributed to their homelessness and to identify and secure move-on housing.
Having recently gone to Facebook in an appeal for blankets, the assistant CEO explained that appeals of this nature were nothing out of the ordinary for a charity like COPE Galway.
“[The appeal] is nothing out of the ordinary. Cope regularly carry out these appeals to help the people sleeping rough or even for the people moving on, [it’s both] beneficial and a support mechanism” explained Mr. O’Connor.
The Assistant CEO revealed some of the factors that have lead to the increase in homelessness in Galway City.
“[The] current shortage of housing in both the social housing and private rented sector and ever-increasing rent levels means that homelessness is something more and more people will experience,” warned Mr. O’Connor.
The homeless population in Galway has generally seen a higher proportion of men than women and children experiencing homelessness.
In recent times, there has been a significant increase in the numbers of families experiencing homelessness in Galway.
“Over the past ten or so weeks there has been … an unprecedented level of demand for emergency accommodation in Galway city with the growth in the numbers of families becoming homeless especially concerning.”
The number of households in emergency accommodation on June 2 and June 3 was 64.
Included in these numbers, were 19 families with a total of 37 children having to be accommodated on this night.
This shocking statistic is partly as a result of issues in the wider housing market. On top of this social, personal and health issues are always rearing their heads.
To be considered as suffering from long term homelessness, one needs to be homeless for six consecutive months. This figure has risen in Galway with many people continually struggling to secure housing, be it private or social.
This has led to more people availing of emergency accommodation as well as the general increase in numbers of people experiencing homelessness.
The average time people have spent in emergency accommodation or spent availing of homeless facilities has seen an increase over the years.
“The average several years ago was between four and five weeks, whereas nowadays it’s between seven and nine weeks” said Mr. O’Connor. He pointed out that “people are struggling to move through the services.”
Issues surrounding housing in Galway have been well documented.
Cllr Catherine Connolly was critical of the level of investment in social housing after the government announced the plan to build 518 houses in Galway by 2017.
“While any proposal to build additional social housing units has to be welcomed, the government’s initiative utterly fails to grasp the depth of the housing crisis in Galway City,” she said.
In the most recent quarterly report from the City Council Housing Department showed that the current number of households on the waiting list stands at 4,041, this doesn’t include the 370 households on the County waiting list, with a further 75 applications currently waiting to be processed.
Coupling this with the skyrocketing rental costs there is scope for this problem to continue to grow.
The cost of renting a three-bed house in city has soared to €945, according to Daft.ie.
This is backed up by the fact that the majority of families seeking assistance are coming out of the private rented accommodation sector.
Martín O’Connor, says further provision of affordable social housing is the only solution to the growing problem of homelessness in the city.
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