ANALYSIS: Tipperary’s homeless figures remain high despite reduction

Adults using emergency accommodation in Tipperary appear to have plateaued at the end of last year.

The December 2022 Homelessness Report from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage shows 41 adults in emergency accommodation in Tipperary at the end of last year.

However, this only represents a modest reduction in those availing of emergency accommodation.

In August, 55 adults were in emergency accommodation.

This decreased to 40 in September and October and 42 in November.

The above figures represent a monthly snapshot of homelessness in Tipperary not an annual one.

However, comparing those monthly estimates to those from 2021 show that there was an increase in those accessing emergency accommodation in Tipperary for most of 2022.

Comparison of monthly homelessness figures for Tipperary in 2021 and 2022. Source: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Homeless Reports January -December 2021 and 2022.

ANNUAL FIGURES
The Tipperary Star was told the Department does not collate a yearly figure of those who access emergency accommodation.

This is because some individuals may return to emergency accommodation several times.

A spokesperson for the Department said coming and going can make it difficult to keep accurate records of how many individuals are using the services.

Additionally, the number of children in emergency accommodation in Tipperary was unavailable for the month of December.

This is because the figure is less than ten.

DWELLING COMPLETIONS
This small reduction is despite an increase in new homes built in 2022 and an eviction ban from October.

The CSO’s New Dwelling Completions Q4 2022 released last week shows there were 430 dwelling completions in 2022.

This is a significant increase in 2021, where 310 dwellings were completed and 300 in 2020.

This week’s figures also show more dwellings completed in Tipperary in 2022 than in pre-pandemic years 2019 (316) and 2018 (197).

Dwelling completion in Tipperary yearly trend. Source: Central Statistics Office NDA05 New Dwelling Completions by Local Electoral Area. Compiled from yearly LEA data sets

Thurles had the most dwelling completions in Tipperary at 82. Roscrea Templemore had the lowest at 38.

No Local Electoral Area of Tipperary reached 100 new dwelling completions in 2022.

INCREASE ACROSS THE BOARD

Nationally in 2022, there were 29,851 dwelling completions.

According to CSO Statistician Justin Anderson, this represents an increase of 45.2% in 2021 and 41.3% in 2019, pre-pandemic.