DRHE seeks to add domestic violence as a reason for seeking emergency accommodation

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) is aiming to categorize those who cite domestic violence as the reason for seeking emergency accommodation within the next month.

It came after a study, by Freedom of Information (FoI), found most councils do not have domestic violence as a category.

When asked, local authorities claimed that they do not collate those figures before blaming Tusla.

However, six local authorities did manage to provide data.

Such data showed that at least 70 people said they had been made homeless last year as a result of domestic abuse.

The same local authorities also said that at least a further 64 people had cited domestic violence as a reason for becoming homeless in 2019 and 2020.

Furthermore, Galway City Council had 118 single people, and 37 families cited family breakdown as their reason for becoming homeless in 2019-2022.

These figures are still growing since some local authorities have yet to respond to the FoI request and others have simply said the records did not exist.

Cork County Council explained the request would require manually checking hundreds of paper and electronic records, which would ultimately cost an estimated €2,675.

A DRHE spokesperson said: "The DRHE, in collaboration with the Dublin local authorities, are in the process of reviewing the 'reasons for homelessness' that are captured at assessment on presentation to homeless services. This is to ensure that the reasons captured reflect the full range of circumstances that can cause a household to present as homeless".

Miriam Kivlehan of Safe Ireland said the data received from the local authorities showed there was not a standardized approach and that "it seems there is an element of local discretion".

"There cannot be postcode lotteries," Ms.Kivlehan said, with the hope that other local authorities would eventually follow suit.