26th June 2026
Homelessness Numbers Decrease to 17,447 for the First Time Since December 2025
The latest figures from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage show 17,447 men, women and children were living in emergency accommodation in May 2026. This is a decrease of 101 people since April 2026 and the first decrease since December 2025.
Over the 12 months since May 2025, the data reveals an increase of 1,700 (10.8%) in emergency accommodation:
- 2,684 were families, marking a 18.1% (411) increase over the year
- 5,583 were children, showing a 15.3% (739) rise in the same period
- 2,068 were 18-24-year-olds, marking a 11.7% (217) increase over the year
- 271 were over 65-year-olds, marking a 10.6% (26) increase over the year
In addition, the figures show a 63.2% increase in the number of single adults living in emergency accommodation compared to five years ago in 2021.
While there has been a decrease in numbers nationally, numbers have increased in the Midlands, Mid-West, North-West and South-East.
As homelessness continues to be a national emergency, the Simon Communities of Ireland is calling on Government to pause any proposed amendments to the Housing Act 1988, where the Minister intends to change eligibility for emergency accommodation.
Ber Grogan, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, said:
Over the last three weeks, the Simon Communities of Ireland has joined forces with other homeless charities and independent legal centres to raise serious concerns about elements of the proposed Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 and the potential impact on people experiencing homelessness. Any law that could lead to an increase in people being forced to sleep rough is simply not acceptable to us.
Across Simon services, we regularly meet people who have been turned away from one local authority and told to try another. Some are fleeing violence and services are already seeing an increase in rough sleeping. We need to be confident that any change in the law will not make that situation worse, and at the moment we do not have the detail needed to assess the impact of the proposed measures.
The updates we have heard have only increased our concerns. There is still time for Government to pause any elements of the Bill related to the 1988 Housing Act. This would be the first time in 38 years that there would be any changes to sections relating to homelessness. It is simply irresponsible to push those changes through without proper discussion, consultation, scrutiny and planning. The Minister has said that they intend to create a night-to-night ‘safety net’ for people who are refused emergency accommodation. Emergency homeless accommodation is supposed to be our ‘safety net’ for people who need it. It doesn’t make any sense that the Government is proposing changes to accessing homeless accommodation without any consultation on how, why, what and where such a safety net would operate.
We are urging the Minister to pause this problematic Bill and to meaningfully engage with us and others in the sector. With figures decreasing across some areas, this is not the time to make our homelessness crisis deepen.
We would like to see a reaffirmation explicitly set out in primary legislation that any limitation of access to social housing support does not have any impact on the humanitarian support of emergency accommodation. The proposed Bill should not impact an individual’s right to shelter. Emergency accommodation is a safety net and a last resort, and therefore those that do not fulfil habitual residence conditions or local connection should not fall through cracks created by legislation.
Ber Grogan continued:
We do not raise this lightly, and it is not a new position.
ENDS
For further information contact Aileen Gaskin 086 166 2160 / communications@simoncommunity.com
