The number of homeless people access emergency accommodation reached another record high at the end of the first quarter of this year, rising to 15,418.
There were 10,743 adults in emergency accommodation as well as 4,675 children in 2,212 families during the last full week of March, according to figures published by the Department of Housing on Friday.
This represents a slight increase on the 15,378 people living in emergency accommodation at the end of February. The total has increased by 3.7 per cent (554 people) since the end of December and by 11.2 per cent (1,552 people) over the last year.
The numbers, counted during the week of March 24th to 30th, do not include people sleeping rough, couch-surfing or in domestic violence refuges. Unaccommodated asylum seekers are also excluded from the total.
In Dublin, where the housing crisis is most acute, there were 7,537 adults and 3,487 children in emergency accommodation.
Outside of the capital, counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow in the mideast and Galway, Mayo and Roscommon in the west were the regions where the highest number of families accessing emergency accommodation were recorded.
The figures also show the majority of adults in emergency accommodation are aged between 25 and 44, with 5,742 people in this age bracket.
