THERE were 160 children homeless in the Mid West, most of them in Limerick, at the end of last month.
This comes as Limerick and the Mid West recorded the second highest number of homeless people in the country outside Dublin in the last month.
Official government homeless figures just published show there were 398 people in Limerick and 478 adults in Limerick and Clare in emergency accommodation in the last week of March.
That was made up of 277 men and 201 women. 333 homeless people were listed as single adults.
With the 160 homeless children in the Mid West were 94 families, 58 of which are listed as single parent families.
The numbers were up by three people on February figures which listed 475 people as homeless. The number of homeless children was down by three.
In a year-on-year basis, Limerick adult homelessness figures were up on the 340 recorded in the same period in 2023. Child homeless figures also rose, with 153 children listed in emergency accommodation in March of that year.
Nationally, this March, there were 9,719 adults homeless in the last week in March and 4,147 children.
The 25 to 44 age group formed the largest contingent experiencing homelessness, with 255 people in emergency accommodation.
Of those listed as homeless in the government report, 376 were Irish, 60 were EU or UK nationals, and 40 came from countries outside of the EU.
The figures, published this week by the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage, do not include rough sleepers, ‘hidden homeless’ (on couches or with family), or refugees and international asylum applicants.
