REVEALED: Latest Waterford homeless figures as county records highest in South-East

Over 100 people were accessing emergency accommodation in Waterford, as per the latest homelessness report from the Department of Housing.

The report measured the number of people across Ireland accessing emergency accommodation during the week of November 18-24, 2024.

The November figure of 109 for Waterford is up almost 4% from October’s figure (105) for the county and it has also increased from the figure reported this time last year (94).

In total, there were 325 people recorded accessing emergency accommodation across the entire South-East region in the week that the data was compiled.

Males accounted for 190 of this figure and females accounted for 135. Of the 325 recorded, 243 were single adults.

Further to this, 59 family units were recorded in the South-East figure. This included 42 single parent families. The total number of child dependents was recorded at 94.

When comparing counties, Waterford (109) was the county with the highest recorded number of people in the South-East region accessing emergency accommodation in the last week of November.

Kilkenny (39) was the county with the lowest recorded number, while Carlow (46) was the second-lowest, then Wexford (58), and Tipperary (73).

Nationally, there are now 15,199 people in emergency accommodation - the largest number ever recorded.

This includes 4,658 children in 2,168 families.

It must be noted that these ‘homelessness’ figures do not include the ‘hidden homeless’ who might be sleeping rough, in refuges, or staying with others.