Updated 19:50

The Department of Housing has confirmed that 1,606 people were removed from its official homeless figures following three ‘re-categorisations’ this year.

According to the latest figures released today, there were 9,527 people accessing emergency accommodation in Ireland in August - a drop of 364 on the previous month.

In a statement however, the Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy confirmed that hundreds of people were removed from this month's figures after a number of "categorisation errors" were uncovered.

A total of 741 people were removed from the official count this month - including 490 children.

It follows similar re-categorisations in the reports published in March and April - when a total of 865 people were taken out of the figures, including 491 children.

Without the three adjustments, the number of people in the official figure this month would have been 11,133.

"Categorisation errors"

The department said it originally uncovered the "errors" during discussions with a number of local authorities as they were compiling February’s report.

It said they had been classifying people as being in emergency accommodation when they were actually living in local authority-owned properties – or properties secured by the local authorities “under other arrangements.”

It said some authorities had also included families who had been “supported to remain in their own homes via additional rental supports, funded from the homelessness budget.” 

All of the uncovered cases were removed from the reports published in March and April.

The department then ordered a nationwide review, which found and removed “further cases of houses and apartments being recorded as emergency accommodation.”

'Redefining homelessness'

The Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) charity said it had “major concerns over the removal of so many people” from the list.

ICHH chief executive Anthony Flynn said Minister Murphy "cannot redefine the word ‘homeless’ at his own leisure" and called for a full review of the figures by the National Oversight & Audit Committee (NOAC). 

@MurphyEoghan abacus is clearly broken and he is making figures up as he goes along. With 1606 people removed from the homeless figures so far. A total of 741 removes last month with 490 children and 251 adults. This is #WalterMitty stuff!!! pic.twitter.com/kFaXF944cQ

— Anthony Flynn (@AnthonyICHH) September 27, 2018

“The Minister’s abacus is now broken,” he said. “These figures just do not wash.”

“The constant reclassification by the Department of Housing shows a very disingenuous attempt in reducing overall figures and is cause for serious concern.

“The Minister cannot use these people as political pawns in order to keep the overall homeless figure below 10,000 people.”

He said this month’s official figure highlights increases in homelessness across the board year-on-year – with the overall figure up 15% on August 2017 and the number of children up 21% over the same period.

Clarity

This evening, the Simon Communities warned that charities and outreach groups need accurate figures to do their jobs.

Spokesperson Niamh Randall said anyone who is in temporary accommodation, paid for by the State, should still be classified as living in emergency accommodation.

“We haven’t been able to ascertain why exactly these households were reclassified and into what kind of arrangement,” she said.

“That is concerning because if people were reclassified but are still in some kind of temporary arrangement, they should really be included in these figures.

“Otherwise they end up falling between two stools.

“They are not counted in emergency accommodation figures and they also are not included in social housing need figures.” 

Confusion

Focus Ireland also called for clarity, with CEO Pat Dennigan warning that there “no other area of national statistics where this level of confusion would be tolerated.”

“The inability of the Government to produce reliable and clear figures on the number of people who are homeless does not inspire confidence,” he said.

“We need to always remember that behind every statistics and number is a person or family that needs a place to call home.” 

He said Focus Ireland helps an average of two families secure a home every day, yet the “shocking fact is that up to four families become homeless that very same day; so the crisis deepens.”

“We need decisive action in the coming Budget early next month to help end the family homelessness crisis,” he said.

The Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy at the launch of the Housing First National Implementation Plan in Dublin, 26-09-2018. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

"Human trauma"

Homeless and drugs charity Merchants Quay Ireland warned that the figures are incomplete as they do not include a range of the most vulnerable groups in society.

It said the most recent rough sleeper count in Dublin showed 110 rough sleepers who were not included in the count - giving a total of at least 9,637.

The charity’s co-founder Tony Geoghegan said there other groups are also not included, “such as women and children in domestic violence shelters, people in direct provision and others who are also homeless.”

“With the current re-categorisation of homeless statistics we run the very real risk of losing sight of the real human trauma behind the figures and of homelessness becoming almost an acceptable social norm,” he said.

“The homeless crisis is not unsolvable, but ultimately the solution requires the provision of sufficient social and affordable housing.

“The Government has a real moral test to hold to its commitment to deliver the required level of housing needed, while also focusing on the immediate needs of the thousands of men, women and children still caught in homelessness today.”

When comparing Aug 2017 vs Aug 2018 there are increases across the board:

Overall figure up 1,257 or 15%
Adults up 612 or 12%
Children up 645 or 21%
Families up 256 or 18%
Pensioners up 28 or 28%

Lots of questions need answering about "miscategorization"#RaiseTheRoof #AskWhy pic.twitter.com/Dj93QCQ5aT

— ICHHDUBLIN (@ICHHDUBLIN) September 27, 2018

The official figure for August includes 3,693 children – a drop of 174 on the previous month.

Meanwhile, according to the updated figures, there were 1,698 families accessing emergency accommodation last month – the figure for July was 80 higher at 1,778.

Minister Murphy said the Government is working with the CSO to develop a “revised methodology for the collection and publication of homelessness data.”

He said delivery of social housing is “critical to reducing the unacceptable numbers of individuals in emergency accommodation.”

The Rebuilding Ireland plan committed the Government to delivering 137,000 ‘housing solutions’ over a six year period and the minister said with six months remaining until the plan hits its midway point 57,000 solutions have been delivered.

Complex challenges

He said the challenges to resolving the homeless crisis are complex – with data from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive indicating that 33% of family households presenting as homeless and 42% of rough sleepers are not entitled to housing supports.

“If such a high proportion of families presenting are not eligible for housing supports, there is no prospect of moving them from emergency accommodation,” said Minister Murphy.

“I recently wrote to the Minister for Justice and Equality on this matter and we will be meeting shortly to explore further the issues involved.”