Almost 18,000 living in emergency accommodation, latest figures show

There are now a total of 17,885 individuals accessing emergency accommodation in August 2026, including 5,830 children under the age of 18.

The figures only include those living in state-funded emergency accommodation on the count week of 24-30 August.

They included 2,800 family households, containing 4,751 adults and 5,830 children, while single-parent families made up 1,617 of these families.

When it came to the demographic overview, 58% of adult emergency accommodation users were male, while 41.5% were female.

The majority of adults living in emergency accommodation were aged 25-44, which is followed by those aged 45-64 at 28%, 17% aged 18-24 and 2% are those aged 65 and over.

Dublin had the highest concentration, with 8,271 adults, making up 68.5%. Other key regions included the South-West with 932 adults, Mid-West with 807 adults, Mid-East with 670 adults and West with 455 adults.

The Department say that 46 new tenancies were created in this period, bringing the total number of individuals in housing first tenancies to 1,032.

The Department of Housing said: “The August 2026 report provides essential transparency regarding individuals and families utilising local authority emergency accommodation across Ireland's nine administrative regions.

“Alongside these monthly counts, Quarter 2 progress demonstrates active intervention, with 2,904 individuals supported through homelessness prevention or exits to secure tenancies and over 1,000 individuals supported in Housing First tenancies.”