Focus Ireland launched its Annual Report today which shows a 30% rise in the number of people it supported in 2022 (16,000 people) compared to 2021 (12,300). The report also reveals a welcome 24% increase in the number of households the charity either supported to leave homelessness or prevented from becoming homeless last year.

One person supported by Focus Ireland is singer Rob Dawson who helped launch the charity’s Annual Report and even sang one of his own songs at the event in the Irish Architecture Institute. Rob also spoke at the event and told how he was previously homeless and is now housed by Focus Ireland in Limerick.

He said: “Life in foster care was traumatic and really difficult. Support felt near impossible and every time I received it I felt like I had to jump through hoops to get it. When I became homeless, I felt anxious and helpless until I found Focus Ireland. The support they’ve given me has been incredible, they helped pick me up off the ground and start again. It’s such an incredible organisation that is really driven to help people of all ages and backgrounds.”

Meanwhile, Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said: “The number of people homeless shot up in 2022 by 27% and our staff worked harder than ever to provide vital support for families and individuals who were homeless or at risk of losing their homes. Our Annual Report 2022 rightly acknowledges this life-changing work as Focus Ireland supported a record number of 16,000 people in 2022. This 30% rise from the previous year is due to many factors which include new services and housing developed during the year.  However, it is also very clear that the main reason for the rise is that more people than ever before are now homeless or at serious risk of losing their home.”

He added: “Sadly, the crisis has continued to deepen again this year as now a record total of 12,847 people are homeless. Despite the increasing numbers we must always remember that homelessness is not inevitable. There are some initiatives that could be taken now to help ease this crisis with the stroke of a pen.”

He outlined: “One such policy action we are calling for is to establish a process for allocation of social housing which gives fairer access to households trapped in homelessness for extended periods. The record delivery of social housing is having no impact on the number of families. The Government must address this urgently. A fairer distribution of new housing would lift many children, families, and individuals out of homelessness more quickly – which would have the knock-on positive impact of easing the burden on over-stretched homelessness services.”

Focus Ireland Annual Report 2022 highlights include:

• 1,668 families – supported by services – an increase of 9% compared to 2021 (1,527)
• 4,235 children supported – an increase of 27% compared to 2021 (3,338)
• 130 homes delivered by Focus Housing Association – now provides over 1400 homes in Ireland in partnership with the State and our supporters
• Over 8,165 customers engaged with our Advice and Information (A&I) service, an increase of 8.5% compared to 2021 (7,523)
• 411 adults supported by the Preparation for Education, Training and Employment (PETE) service, including 79 directly into employment and 125 upskilled through further education, an increase of 45% compared to 2021 (284)
• 613 households were supported to keep their homes, 18% rise compared to 2021 (521)

Focus Ireland Life President & Founder Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy sent a strong message to the current government. She said: “Homelessness causes terrible trauma for anyone, but it hurts children the most. It is beyond shocking that over 3,800 children are homeless.  As a society we must move beyond saying that it is “disappointing” to see the latest record homelessness figures each month. We must state very strongly and consistently that these numbers are unacceptable. We need to see far more urgency by the Government to tackle this issue and ease human suffering.”

She added: “Children who are homeless are at risk of having their childhoods stolen. Our specially trained staff work extremely hard to protect families and children through our targeted support services. We help them while they are homeless and to move on to secure a home.

Sr. Stan concluded: “The State must increase the amount of social and affordable housing available through clamping down on dereliction as well as rapidly increasing the number of new social homes being built. In the short term more action must be taken to prevent homelessness. No country has it perfect, but many are doing a better job than we are, and we have shown in the past we could deliver social housing and Ireland must do so again.”

The full Annual Report can be downloaded in the email attached or via the link below.

https://www.focusireland.ie/who-we-are/annual-reports/