HOMELESSNESS IS set to reach unprecedented levels across the county this year, Wexford County Council’s Housing Department has confirmed.

Speaking to the Wexford Echo, Senior Executive Officer Liz Hore said that the Council envisaged a spend in the region of a quarter of a million euro this year alone on temporary bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation for homeless people in the county.

Some 538 people presented as homeless to Wexford County Council in 2015, however 392 people have already presented this year to date.

Homeless shelters in the county are also well over-subscribed, with a waiting list of over 30 men in operation for Ozanam House in Wexford town.

The Council had a total expenditure of €117,000 on B&B accommodation in 2015, an almost five-fold rise on spending in the same area the previous year.

In previous years, Ms. Hore said, somewhere in the region of 60 to 80 cases of homelessness would be presented to Wexford County Council over the course of twelve months.

“This rise is for a variety of reasons… there is certainly a problem of the ‘new homeless’,” Ms. Hore said.

People across County Wexford, she said, lost rental accommodation as they may have been unable to cope with financial pressures and now, with a shortage of housing supply, this cohort is struggling to secure new homes.

In addition to this group, there is another segment of homeless people in County Wexford who find themselves homeless due to addiction or other difficulties and who need the support of services such as those on offer at Ozanam House and Wexford Women’s Refuge to facilitate their path to recovery.

“There are 18, 19 year olds who can’t get on with their parents because of alcohol and drugs… and then there are much older people living there also,” former Manager of Ozanam House, John Coady, said.

When residents are ready to move on from their time at the Wexford town shelter, Mr. Coady said, they struggle to secure private rental accommodation.

“Three of four years ago, a letting agent would give you a choice of six or seven properties,” he said, reflecting on how this situation had changed in the intervening years.

“Our only hope is that more private rental accommodation will come on stream.”

The Government clearly outlined the need to tackle the crisis of homelessness in their ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ strategy, published in July of this year.

Some €25m has been made available to Wexford County Council to help tackle the issue over the next three years.

Read more in the Wexford Echo.