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Homelessness rises 40% in Northern Ireland
Homelessness in Northern Ireland soared by nearly 40% in early 2017, official statistics released today reveal.
According to the Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin, the number of households who presented as homeless between 1 January and 31 March 2017 was 5,242.
That is up from 3,752 in the previous quarter from October to December 2016 – a rise of 1,490, or 39.7%.
In comparison, the number of households presenting as homeless for the same January to March period in 2016 was 4,350 – a 6% decrease on the previous quarter.
The figures come after providers of homelessness services in Northern Ireland warned last week that their operations could be under threat following a cut to the Supporting People budget in the region.
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The number of households accepted by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as full duty applicants was 3,221, up 34.7% from October to December 2016.
Jim Dennison, chief executive of homelessness charity Simon Community Northern Ireland, said: “The upsurge of homelessness by nearly 40% is not surprising – we’ve been bracing ourselves for it for some time. And that trend is set to continue.
“Further cuts will mean that service provision will simply not meet demand. We are looking at more and more people living on the streets if the cuts continue.”
The most frequent reason for households to present as homeless was that their accommodation was not reasonable, while a sharing breakdown or family dispute was also a common factor.
Single men just made up the largest proportion of homeless presenters at 32.2%, while families accounted for 32%.
The statistics, which are compiled by the Department for Communities and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, also showed a 16.2% increase in new build starts in January to March compared with the same period in 2016.
This growth was largely driven by the private sector, with 184 social housing starts, down 13.6% on the same quarter in the previous year.
Justin Cartwright, policy and public affairs manager at the Chartered Institute of Housing Northern Ireland, said: “The social housebuilding sector is also making a vital contribution – it exceeded the government target of 1,600 starts over the year to March 2017.
“However in reality we need more than 2,000 new social homes every year to address high levels of people in urgent housing need.”
