Nearly 4,600 children living in temporary accommodation in Northern Ireland in July
Over 4,500 children were living in temporary accommodation in Northern Ireland in July, according to new figures released by the Department for Communities.
The statistics show that in July 2023, just under 4,600 children were living in temporary accommodation in Northern Ireland.
Around 3,000 of these children were aged nine and under, representing an increase of 88% since 2019, when just over 2,400 children were living in temporary accommodation.
The number of households living in temporary accommodation has more than doubled over the last four and a half years.
In July 2023, over 4,200 households were living in temporary accommodation, compared with nearly 2100 in 2019 - an increase of 104%.
Between January and June, over 8,500 households presented to the Housing Executive as homeless. This was an increase of 5% on the same period in 2022.
Derry and Strabane Council recorded the highest rate of presentations, with 7.4 presentations per 1,000 people.
Nicola McCrudden, Chief Executive of Homeless Connect said: “These figures starkly highlight the deteriorating situation we are facing when it comes to homelessness here.
"Month by month, more and more households are finding themselves in need of temporary accommodation. Many households are finding themselves stuck in the temporary accommodation system, in some cases sadly for years, due to the lack of social housing.
"There are no easy fixes available to the problems we are facing.
"The absence of the NI Executive is hampering the ability of this society to respond to these housing and homelessness challenges in a planned way.
"Due to the absence of budgetary certainty and political leadership, statutory agencies and the wider homelessness sector are locked in to a reactive posture constantly having to fight fires.
"They are simply unable to engage in a planned and systematic way in the upstream preventative work which prevents homelessness before it happens. "Let us make no mistake, the poorest people living here are reaping the bitter fruits of the political dysfunction which continues to mar governance here.
"We know that with the right policy and the right resources homelessness can be prevented and reduced. Without it, this situation will only degrade and deteriorate further with all of the devastating consequences this will have for those impacted.”
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