The vast majority of public spending on homelessness continues to be directed toward emergency accommodation, with little investment in prevention and long-term solutions, a report has found.
The Focus on Homelessness report shows that nearly €361 million was spent on emergency accommodation in 2024 alone, accounting for 86 per cent of all homelessness-related expenditure.
Meanwhile, only five per cent of total spending was spent on prevention measures such as tenancy sustainment and resettlement support.
The new report, from Focus Ireland and Trinity College Dublin, which analyses public expenditure on homelessness from 2009 through to projected spending for 2025, highlights a trend that despite billions spent, homelessness remains a persistent and growing issue.
Since 2014, the number of households in temporary and emergency accommodation has increased by 258 per cent, rising from 2,419 to 8,669 by mid-2024.
The report reveals that over €1.84 billion has been spent on providing emergency accommodation since 2013, with an increasing share going to private, for-profit providers.
In 2024, for every euro funding for homeless charities, three euros went to private for-profit providers, a dramatic increase from almost equal funding in 2014.
Mike Allen, advocacy director at Focus Ireland and co-author of the report, emphasised the need for a shift in spending priorities.
“This report underscores a simple but urgent point, while emergency accommodation is necessary to prevent people from having to sleep rough, it does nothing to address the root causes of homelessness,” he said.
“We need to rebalance our investment toward prevention and support services that offer lasting solutions.
“Continuing to pour money into temporary fixes without tackling underlying issues is not only ineffective but also unsustainable.
“These figures raise serious questions about the Government’s decision to limit expenditure on tenant-in-situ purchases, one of its most successful homeless prevention schemes.”
Eoin O’Sullivan, from Trinity College Dublin, said that emergency accommodation services are provided by either by the NGO sector or by the private sector.
“The bulk of the expenditure and the growth of that expenditure has been on private sector providers,” he said.
“The private sector spent 11 million in 2013 and it’ll be 270 million in 2024, so an extraordinary increase there.
“There was a slight dip during the Covid period, but the expenditure on private sector providers accelerated pretty quickly from 2022 onwards.
“The expenditure of the NGO sector has remained fairly flat over the last two, three years and this largely reflects that there hasn’t been any great additionality in terms of emergency beds being provided by the NGO sector.
“The number of adults in private emergency accommodation was less than 1,000 in 2014 but it’s over 7,000 at the beginning of 2025, whereas the numbers of adults in NGO provided emergency accommodation hasn’t changed that much over that period, particularly from 2020 to 2025.
“Nearly all the additional adults coming into emergency accommodation are increasingly being absorbed by the private sector, hence the fairly dramatic growth in the expenditure on private providers of emergency accommodation.
“The average cost of maintaining a household emergency accommodation nationally has risen from just under 15,000 to over 40,000.
Muge Adalet McGowan, a senior economist at the OECD, who also recently co-authored the OECD economic survey of Ireland, said Ireland wants to ensure it gets the best value for money.
She said: “Public spending on housing has increased. We can say that in international perspective, Ireland has high spending on housing.
“When you’re spending so much, it’s very important that you base your housing policies on sound economic data and cost benefit analysis.
“You want to get the best value for money for all all the public spending that you are putting in this area.
“The main message is that, yes, the current fiscal situation in Ireland is good, but there are two things to consider.
“First, the international landscape is changing, so the risks have increased, uncertainty has increased.
“And second, there will be a pressure on future spending, on things like ageing in Ireland, as in other OECD economies.
“So it is good to save when times are good.”
Mr Allen also said that the rise in spending on private emergency accommodation reflects a “short-term, reactive approach”.
“We need long-term, proactive strategies like the Housing First model and increased social housing delivery to break the cycle of homelessness,” he added.
Some of the key findings from the report include that nearly €361 million was spent on emergency accommodation in 2024, accounting for 86 per cent of all homelessness-related expenditure.
Only five per cent of spending was spent on prevention measures in 2024, down from 10 per cent in 2013; the number of households in temporary and emergency accommodation increased by 258 per cent from 2014 to 2024; and over €1.84 billion has been spent on emergency accommodation since 2013.
In 2024, 75 per cent of emergency accommodation costs went to private, for-profit providers, up from 40 per cent in 2013.
The average annual cost of maintaining a household in emergency accommodation reached nearly €42,000 in 2024, rising to €45,000 per household in Dublin.
Expenditure on prevention has increased considerably from €5.7 million in 2013 to €21.4 million in 2024, but its share of overall spending has declined from 10 per cent to five per cent during the same period.
