My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual local authorities.
My Department currently gathers and publishes data on a monthly basis on the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by local authorities. These reports are based on data provided by local authorities, produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS).
The monthly homelessness report includes details of individuals, families and the dependants of these families who accessed emergency accommodation during the relevant count week of the month in question. This report also provides a breakdown of the number of adults in emergency accommodation per accommodation type. The most recently published data is in respect of April 2026. The reports are collated on a regional basis and are available on my Department's website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/ and are also published to the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform & Digitisation open data portal https://data.gov.ie/.
My Department also publishes quarterly progress reports which are based on quarterly performance reports submitted by the nine regional lead authorities responsible for the administration of homeless services at local level. These Quarterly performance reports include details on a regional level of the numbers of individuals prevented from entering emergency accommodation, and those exiting emergency accommodation into tenancies, the reason for presentation and the duration of stay in emergency accommodation. Since Q3 2025 local authorities have been reporting on "children under 18" in family households in terms of preventions and exits. This additional data is included on a national level in the Progress Report.
The quarterly progress report summarises the data submitted to the Department. The duration of stay data of single and family households is reported as six-monthly bands ranging from less than six months to more than 24 months. These bands refer to consecutive stays in emergency accommodation and are based on a point-in-time count, informed by emergency accommodation usage on the last night in the quarter.
The Progress and performance reports are available on my Department’s website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/
The Government's new housing plan Delivering Homes, Building Communities recognises that homelessness is the single most pressing social issue that we face and sets out a number of key measures to address homelessness. A key measure in the plan is the development of a Child and Family Homelessness Action Plan. My Department is working closely with the Department of the Taoiseach as well as a range of key stakeholders on the development of this Plan.
The Action Plan sets out new measures to prevent family homelessness in the first instance, to provide enhanced supports for children and parents experiencing homelessness, as well as measures to accelerate exits and reduce the time spent by children and their families in homeless emergency accommodation.
It is intended that the Action Plan will be published by end of Q2 2026 after which a Delivery Steering Group will be established to drive progress on all actions.
