There were 91 people counted during this year's Winter rough sleeping count which took place last month.
The annual count, which took place over the week of November 7 to 13th, takes a note of people who are sleeping rough outdoors in Dublin. It does not account for those who are in emergency accommodation or who have other forms of accommodation through homeless services.
This year's Winter count saw a drop of three people as 94 were counted in 2021 between October 25 and 31. November's number was the same as the Spring count taken earlier this year.
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The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive arranged the count which was taken by the Dublin Simon Community Outreach Team and supported by the Peter McVerry Trust Housing First Intake Team. Staff in all four Dublin local authorities and An Garda Síochána provided additional information about people who were rough sleeping, especially those in isolated areas.
Of the 91 people met rough sleeping, 87 had previously been assessed by the DRHE for homeless services, and the remaining four were being actively engaged with by the Outreach team be assessed by homeless services. The majority of the people confirmed as rough sleeping were male and Irish and aged between 26-45 years.
In the November 2022 count, 29 individuals (33%) had an emergency accommodation booking they did not access over the count week. A further seven individuals (8%) accessed emergency accommodation during the November 2022 count week.
There were 53 individuals (61%) that had a booking at some stage in the three months prior the count, of which 29 (33%) did not present (i.e. were no shows). 12 individuals (14%) were found rough sleeping in both the Winter 2022 and Spring 2022 counts. A number of these are being targeted for a Housing First response, which will provide them with permanent housing and visiting supports to help them sustain their home.
The DRHE said: "It can take several intensive engagements by the Outreach team with people who are rough sleeping to support them into emergency accommodation, but in the vast majority of cases the team are successful in doing so within a short time frame. 94% (n=82) of those found rough sleeping during the Winter 2022 count had booked homeless accommodation in the past, 61% (n=53) at some time in the 3 months prior to the count, and 23% (n=20) had a booking for emergency accommodation on at least one of the nights they were found to be sleeping rough.
"The number of people rough sleeping in the Dublin Region changes from night to night. While there is a core group who regularly sleep rough, that may or may not engage with services, there is a larger group that move between rough sleeping, accessing emergency accommodation, sleeping in insecure accommodation, and staying with family or friends. Others may engage in rough sleeping for a very brief transitional period. Conducting this count over a one-week period provides more information on the different experiences of people who engage in rough sleeping."
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