Almost 150 children in Limerick are in the grip of homelessness and are sleeping in emergency beds nightly, and in excess of 60 people are currently sleeping rough in the Treaty City, an increase of 50 in the past two years, housing charity NOVAS warned.
Many more children locally are not officially counted on homeless lists as they are staying with relatives, often in overcrowded properties.
90 families, including 148 children, plus another 200 single adults were sleeping in emergency accommodation up to four weeks ago, according to the latest figures published by Limerick City and Council. The local authority is to publish the number of people officially recorded as sleeping in emergency beds up to October, in the coming days.
Housing and addiction support service NOVAS warned in its annual report, published today, Thursday, that more and more people are sleeping rough in Limerick as the current emergency bed stock is not meeting demand.
This “growing demand for services” has resulted in “more people than ever living in precarious and unsustainable living arrangements”, NOVAS warned.
The charity said that at least fifty people per night were accessing its street outreach service, “reinforcing the trends of increased deprivation, unstable living arrangements and homelessness”.
NOVAS has also recorded a “significant rise” in presentations to its Out-of-Hours service in Limerick, which more than doubled from 1,130 to 2,855 presentations between 2022 and 2023.
Una Burns, Head of Advocacy and Communications at NOVAS said: “In excess of 60 people are sleeping rough in Limerick because they have nowhere else to go. There were less than 10 persons sleeping rough two years ago.”
Ms Burns explained that “due to growing levels of rough sleeping in the city”, the charity was currently providing nightly “hot beverages, food and sleeping bags when no alternative accommodation is available.
“This is not a sufficient or sustainable solution for people who are forced to rough sleep. A more comprehensive, housing-led solution is required. We need additional one-bed units of housing and more STA (supported temporary accommodation) beds in the system”.
NOVAS, which provides services across the Mid-West and in Dublin, said supports were also urgently required to meet “the specific needs of women who experience homelessness and the importance of female-only services and spaces”.
“This can create a sense of safety among female residents, where they can lean into the peer support of a collective experience of homelessness and multiple disadvantage, including dual diagnosis of mental health and addiction,” Ms Burns said.
NOVAS chief executive, Una Deasy, said hurdles remain in providing “exit pathways from homelessness”, and she called for a “redoubling of efforts to end homelessness by 2030, as per the Lisbon Declaration” by “increasing national housing output”.
Last year, through its own tenant-in-situ affordable housing scheme, NOVAS created 80 new tenancies for 129 new tenants, bringing the total number of tenants to almost 800.
Despite the “profound trauma” homelessness creates for people, and an apparent no-end to the crisis, Ms Deasy remained hopeful for positive change.
“Our message today is clear, homelessness is solvable. We can work together to end the crisis by delivering more homes with urgency and unwavering focus and additional resources for prevention measures such as the tenant-in-situ scheme,” she said.
Angelina's story
Mother of two, Angelina McDonagh of Fedamore, Co Limerick, was happy renting a house for five years, until two years ago her landlord gave her six months notice that he was selling the property.
With rents and house prices soaring, she and her then nine-year-old daughter and five-year-old son were facing homelessness.
“I remember hugging the walls before we moved out,” she said.
She and her children “eventually had to present as homeless to the council, which was very difficult”.
“I was so worried, I cried every day wondering where are they going to put us and what would happen. The housing crisis was getting really bad, and there really seemed like there was nowhere for us to go.”
NOVAS initially placed the family in a hotel due to a lack of affordable homes to rent or buy.
“We went from having a house with our own bedrooms to suddenly being in a tiny little hotel room with three single beds. The only sink was the small one in the bathroom, so that’s where I had to wash the dishes. I couldn’t cook or do any laundry,” explained Angelina.
A nine-month stay in a NOVAS run emergency accommodation “family hub” followed, and last March, NOVAS moved the family into a new house under its in-tenant scheme.
“It’s been so emotional, but now all my tears are happy tears. I really am so relieved and grateful to have this secure home for my children. Knowing that no one will call me and say I have to be out in six months.”
Thanking NOVAS, Angelina said she hoped her story would help others in similar situations engage with NOVAS and climb out of the trap of homelessness.
“I used to pray every night to God asking for stability for the kids. And now every day I say a prayer of thanks.”
