Some 94 rough sleepers have been counted around Dublin this winter by homelessness outreach workers.
The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) arranged for the Dublin Simon outreach team to undertake a full assessment of people sleeping rough in the region over the week October 25th to 31st.
Over seven days, outreach teams visited all known areas of rough sleeping in the region, with additional staff deployed for more intense coverage of city centre areas.
There was also communication with gardaí and the four local authorities in Dublin to ensure the teams were informed of any people known to be rough sleeping, particularly in isolated areas.
Outreach teams reported encountering a total of 94 individuals sleeping rough over the course of the week, down 25 per cent on the 125 individuals found to be rough sleeping in the spring count of April 2021.
Tents
The majority of those counted were Irish, male and aged between 26 to 45 years. The youngest person found rough sleeping was 19 years old and the oldest person found was 68 years old.
Just under half of those found rough sleeping in this winter’s count were using tents.
Of the 94 people identified, 82 had PASS records - the shared bed and case management tool used by homeless services - indicating they were engaging with homeless services.
Of these 82 people, just over a third had an emergency accommodation booking on PASS for the same night they were identified by the outreach teams. They were no-shows at their accommodation on the night.
Just over half of people had used emergency accommodation in the three months prior to the count, and after the week of the count 39 per cent were in emergency accommodation.
Two individuals had an existing tenancy and were found rough sleeping once during the count week.
