The number of people living homeless in Clare has increased by 18% in the space of a month.
New figures released by the Department of Housing show that over 560 people in the MidWest region were taking shelter in emergency accommodation in December.
Eighty-Two adults were living homeless in Clare in December.
The figure marks an increase of 18% from the 69 in this county who were availing of emergency accommodation during November last year.
For recording purposes, the Department of Housing considers the MidWest region to comprise of Clare and Limerick only and last month 426 adults along with 135 children were recorded as homeless across both counties.
That brings the number of homeless in the MidWest during December to 561, which is a marginal monthly drop of 3%.
This total consists of 91 families, 63 single parent families and 129 adults.
In Clare & Limerick last month over 80% of adults recorded as homeless had Irish Citizenship, 12% were from the EU or UK, while the remainder were from outside the EU.
According to Clare’s Homeless Action Team, the needs of people accessing Emergency Accommodation involved members of the Travelling Community, discharge from care, rehabilitation and women’s refuge settings, discharges from prison services, Notices to Quit and Family or Relationship Breakdown.
