A total of 39 families became homeless in Dublin in July, new figures have revealed.

That equates to one family losing their home in Dublin every day this year, according to a report by Focus Ireland.

The figures were announced as the charity made a submission to the Department of Social Protection's 'Review of Rent Supplement Levels'. The Focus Ireland submission called for rent supplement payments to match real rent levels to help prevent families and individuals from losing their homes.

The charity's submission also warns that the Government's rent review process is fatally flawed and won't solve the problem.

-- Advertisement --

Focus Ireland Director of Advocacy Mike Allen said: "Our figures for July show that 39 families – more than one family a day – lost their home and became homeless in Dublin last month alone. Many of these families lost their homes because the rent supplement system failed them.

"A lot of the families that are becoming homeless and others we are supporting to try to prevent them losing their homes have been forced to top-up the rent supplement to meet the market cost of rent as the rent supplement doesnt cover the rent. Paying this top-up month on month is clearly not sustainable and it just pushes families deeper into debt and nearer to homelessness."

Focus Ireland added that the Government must raise rent supplement rates to stop the rise in the number of families losing their homes as they can't afford to pay their rent.

Mr Allen said: "The simple fact is that Government policy on rent supplement is one of the immediate causes of the sharp rise of family homelessness in Ireland.

"The Government could stop many families from losing their homes with a stroke of a pen. It is not credible for the Government to accept homelessness is at crisis point yet not take this straightforward action to prevent it."

(CD/JP)