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The number of homeless families in Ireland has trebled in just four years, statistics have revealed.

Focus Ireland released research that underlines once more the crisis in the housing sector.

The charity works closely with homeless families and said it has seen numbers jump 298% since 2015.

In February that year there were 429 families forced to live in emergency accommodation as they had nowhere to call home.

However, in February 2019 the situation had deteriorated drastically, with the numbers jumping to 1,707.

(Image: Getty Images)

Focus also revealed the the rental crunch is having a huge impact on homelessness, with 70% of families coming to them with nowhere to live having just lost rented accommodation.

The scene on the ground has got gradually worse and worse since he took office in the department’s grand home in Dublin’s Customs House two years ago this month.

Focus Ireland spokesman Mike Allen said: “There’s now a record number of 10,378 people homeless in Ireland and nearly 4,000 are children.

“The number of families who are homeless has shot up by a staggering 298% in the last four years from 429 in February 2015 to 1,707 in February 2019.

“This is wrong and we must all work together to end this crisis.

“Focus Ireland publishes this research as a contribution to the national understanding of the crisis, so we can arrive at more effective solutions.

“It also presents accurate information which we hope will counteract any misconceptions about why families are homeless and the very considerable efforts they are making to find themselves new homes.

“In order to end any crisis it is vital to fully understand the situation.

“We need to have solid data which clearly outlines where families were living before they lost their home, why they became homeless and what could have been done to prevent them from losing their home in the first place. This clear information informs our work with the State to refine our family services and to also develop policy recommendations that – if acted upon by Government – would help to greatly reduce the number of families becoming homeless.”

Focus’ report is titled Family Homelessness In Dublin; Causes, Housing Histories And Finding A Home.” It is the latest in a series of studies published through the charity’s Insights Into Family Homelessness Series.

It also found families are making extensive efforts to find a new home with more than three quarters trying to access properties through the Housing Assistance Payment.

Almost two-thirds (61%) had applied for more than 20 HAP properties each but nearly half (48%) felt landlords were reluctant to rent their properties to HAP tenants.