Homelessness continues to spiral across Galway city and county, with the number of adults recorded in emergency accommodation last November up by a fifth in just a month.

The most recent snapshot figures released by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government showed there were 444 adults and 227 children being put up in hotels, B&Bs and hubs across Galway, Mayo and Roscommon between November 18 and 24.

The vast majority of the adults were Irish (336) and aged between 25 and 44 (211).

Just the adults are broken down by county; there were 287 registered in emergency housing between the two local authority areas covering Galway.

That’s significantly up on October when 240 adults were in emergency accommodation in the city and county. There were 392 adults recorded across the region in one week in October with the number of children remaining stable at 226.

In September 2024, there were 382 adults and 235 children recorded in the west in emergency housing, with 241 of the adults living in Galway.

A year ago, there were 273 being accommodated by the two Galway local authorities. Back then 209 children and 374 adults were registered in emergency housing in the three counties.

Just eight tenancies were created in the third quarter of last year, with 66 families being supported in rental property in the three western counties.

CEO of Galway Simon Karen Golden pointed out that the figures showed a year-on-year increase of over 15%, with homelessness increasing faster in the West than nationally.

“Grim as these numbers are, they do not include rough sleepers, women and children in domestic refuges, people who are sleeping in their cars, people who are couch surfing and involuntarily sharing.  In reality there are many more people homeless than the emergency accommodation figures suggest,” she said.

Caption: Karen Golden, CEO of Galway Simon.

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