The number of people homeless in rural Ireland has risen by 12% in the last year, according to a new report by the Peter McVerry Trust.

The report shows that as of July 2019, 1,400 people across rural Ireland were homeless. Adults accounted for 1,000 of these. Of all homeless people in the country, 15% are in rural Ireland.

Significant number

While the vast majority of people impacted by homelessness are found in cities, there is a growing and significant number of people homeless in rural Ireland, said Pat Doyle, CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust.

“While the number is significant, it remains a number that can be tackled and tackled quickly. That is the thrust of our report because we are putting forward actions that can bring the number down very quickly,” he added.

The report by the charity sets out five key areas to help combat rural homelessness. They include:

1. The creation of a new strategy to tackle rural homelessness.

2. Ensuring delivery matches housing needs of people and communities.

3. Reusing empty and underused buildings to provide new housing.

4. Opening high-intensity, multi-disciplinary homeless support services.

5. Protecting home owners and tenants impacted by long-term mortgage arrears.

The facts

In rural Ireland rent prices were up 6.9% in the year to June 2019. House prices were up 8.3% in the same period.

Census 2016 found that 12% of the 2m dwellings that formed the Irish housing stock were vacant. Excluding holiday homes, that means there were 183,000 vacant homes across Ireland.

As of April 2019 there were 40,234 mortgages across Ireland in arrears.

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