Census of Population 2022 Profile 6 - Homelessness

Background

The 26th census since 1841 was carried out on the night of Sunday, 03 April 2022 in accordance with the Statistics (Census of Population) Order 2020 and in order to facilitate the EU requirements arising from the implementing legislation associated with Regulation (EC) No. 763/2008 on population and housing censuses.

Coverage of the Census

The census population figures in this report relate to the de facto population meaning persons who were present in the State on the night of Sunday, 03 April 2022. The de facto population includes persons who do not usually live in Ireland but who were in the State on Census Night. It excludes persons who usually live in Ireland but who were temporarily absent, outside of the State, on Census Night. Persons who were present in the State were enumerated and are reported at the location where they spent Census Night. This may not have been the location where they usually live.

Conduct of the Census

The 26th census was originally scheduled to take place on the night of Sunday, 08 April 2021. Following advice from the CSO, the government decided in September 2020 to postpone the census for approximately one year owing to the ongoing difficulties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the purposes of census enumeration, the State was divided into 6 Census Liaison Areas, 46 Regions, 466 Field Districts and 5,100 Enumeration Areas. Census Enumerators were assigned to these Enumeration Areas and, during the five weeks before Census Night, delivered census questionnaires to all dwellings that were expected to be occupied on Sunday, 03 April 2022. Each address within an Enumeration Area was recorded as either occupied, unoccupied or not suitable for habitation.

The collection of completed questionnaires took place between Monday, 04 April and Friday, 06 May 2022.

The data in this report is based on the information handwritten on the census forms. After collection, the census forms were returned to CSO where they were scanned to capture and digitise the handwritten information. This digitised information was then processed to prepare it for publication.

De Facto versus Usual Residence

The date of the census was chosen to coincide with a period when as many people as possible were at their home address and consequently the figures closely approximate the normally resident population.

The de facto measure of the population represents all persons who were present in the State on Census Night, irrespective of whether they were usually resident in the State at the time of the census.

The usually resident and present measure of the population refers to all persons who usually live in Ireland and who were present in the State on Census Night. It excludes persons who were not usually resident in the State on Census Night but who were present and persons who were usually resident in the State but were outside the State on Census Night.

The usually resident and present measure is used when analysing topics such as country of citizenship and households and families.

Methodology on Census 2022 Homeless Count

Background

CSO carried out a count of homeless people as part of Census 2022. A dedicated count of homeless people has been included as part of the Irish census since 2011, but the methodology used has evolved since then, reflecting the changing profile of how this cohort of the population has been accommodated.

As in previous years, the approach for conducting the homeless count was primarily based upon the pre-identification of accommodation where homeless people were staying on Census Night rather than by self-identification through the census form.

• More than half (51%) of the homeless population (5,231 people) were enumerated in accommodation categorised as Private Emergency Accommodation.

• Almost one in four, or 2,507 people, were counted in Supported Temporary Accommodation.

• Family Hub Accommodation accounted for a further 2,011 people (19%).

The methodology used to identify a person as homeless for the purposes of the census was agreed in advance at a meeting of the Census Homeless Methodology Liaison Group, held in January 2020. The meeting was attended by major stakeholders including statutory bodies and organisations involved in providing services to homeless people. The membership of the Census Homeless Methodology Liaison Group included Local Authorities, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) and other key stakeholder organisations. Membership of the Census Homeless Methodology Liaison Group was drawn from the following organisations:

• COPE Galway
• Cork City Council
• Crosscare
• Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
• DePaul Ireland
• Dublin Regional Homeless Executive
• Focus Ireland
• Galway City Council
• Irish Council for Social Housing
• Limerick County Council
• Saint Vincent de Paul
• Simon Communities
• Trinity College, Dublin
• Tusla
• Waterford County Council
• Westmeath County Council

The following organisations were unavailable/unable to attend: Cuan Mhuire, Dublin City Council (Dublin Region), Kildare County Council (Mid-East Region), Louth County Council (North-East Region), Merchants Quay Ireland, Peter McVerry Trust, Respond Housing Association, Salvation Army, Sligo County Council.

It was agreed that the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) would provide the CSO with address lists relating to accommodation which were designated as providing shelter for homeless people and funded accordingly under Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988. To facilitate this approach, the Pathway Accommodation and Support System (PASS) was utilised to help identify these establishments. PASS is the national client management data system hosted by the DRHE (National PASS Office) on behalf of the DHLGH and all housing authorities. All Local Authorities use PASS on a daily basis to record details of people who use homeless services in their locality. Each Local Authority is organised into one of nine regions (see below¹) and each region has a lead Local Authority responsible for the maintenance of good quality data in the PASS system and the production of anonymised reports to the DHLGH under a national reporting template.

Identification of Accommodation for the Homeless

The DRHE provided a list of all Section 10 funded locations from their PASS database and the CSO ensured each of them was appropriately geocoded to facilitate inclusion in address lists as part of the enumeration process which was conducted prior to Census Night in 2022.

Census Field Operation

A specialist unit was set up for the enumeration of the homeless population with five specialised enumerators dedicated to enumerating homeless accommodation in the greater Dublin Region and Cork. These enumerators were given specific areas within Dublin and Cork to enumerate. Special instructions were provided regarding the enumeration of listed accommodation, including delivery and collection of census forms, providing ancillary support where required such as translation booklets and the treatment of families in these units. Enumeration of designated accommodation outside Dublin and Cork was undertaken by local field staff.

Family Units

Relationships between family members are not normally captured for persons in communal establishments (i.e. managed communal residential accommodation) as part of the Irish census. In order to record family details for related persons in communal establishments designated as homeless accommodation, census Household forms were issued to family units staying in designated establishments. These forms facilitated the collection of information about family relationships. For census purposes, a family is defined as a couple with or without children, or a parent with one or more children. The Census Homeless Methodology Liaison Group agreed, in advance of the Census field operation, that Family Hubs would be included as a separate accommodation type category in the main results in this report.

Long-Term Accommodation (LTA)

The Census Homeless Methodology Liaison Group agreed, in advance of the Census field operation, that persons in Long-Term Accommodation (LTA) would not be included in the main results in this report. The rationale behind this decision was that, although these long-term residents may require a certain level of support, they were for the most part considered tenants (although some have license arrangements).

Census 2022 recorded 2,196 individuals in LTAs on Census Night. In 2016, the equivalent figure was 1,772.

Enumeration of People Sleeping Rough

A count of rough sleepers also took place in Dublin on the night of the census, and this was conducted by Dublin City Council in conjunction with the DRHE. The DRHE has conducted rough sleeper counts in Dublin each spring and winter since 2007. For areas outside Dublin, the census field staff enumerated rough sleepers with the assistance of local Gardaí and/or local organisations involved in providing services to homeless people.

Quality Assurance

In order to quality assure the data collected as part of the enumeration process outlined above, the CSO used data generated from the PASS system relating to persons who spent Census Night in designated accommodation. This data was accessed under CSO’s legal entitlement to administrative data sources for statistical purposes as provided for in Section 30 of the Statistics Act 1993. The Section 30 request was approved by the DRHE and each Local Authority. The PASS data file allowed CSO to ensure that the count of homeless people who spent Census Night in Section 10 accommodation was accurate and complete.

More information on the use of administrative data by the CSO can be found in the Administrative Data FAQ - CSO - Central Statistics Office.

Presentation and Analysis of the Results

Geography

Regional Homelessness Action Plans were adopted in 2010 by the 34 Local Authorities under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009.

The lead Local Authority for each Regional Action Plan is in bold.

• North-East: Louth, Cavan, Monaghan.

• Dublin: Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin.

• Mid-East: Kildare, Meath, Wicklow.

• South-East: Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Wexford.

• South-West: Cork City, Cork County, Kerry.

• Mid-West: Limerick, Clare, North Tipperary.

• Midland: Westmeath, Laois, Longford, Offaly.

• West: Galway City, Galway County, Mayo, Roscommon.

• North-West: Sligo, Donegal, Leitrim.

Statistics Enhanced with Administrative Data

The CSO is committed to broadening the range of high-quality information it provides. The use of administrative and secondary data sources across public service bodies provides the opportunity to enhance outputs in a safe manner, while adhering to statistical and data protection legislation. The introduction of administrative data allows correction for non-response to the census with high-quality observed data from government sources for certain variables.

The following analysis presents Census 2022 homelessness data augmented with administrative data sources on marital status, principal economic status, level of education and country of citizenship. It should be noted that this data is not consistent with what has been published to date for Census 2022. It is being provided so that more insight is available to users on these key variables.

It should also be noted that the level of non-response is still relatively high, and users should be conscious of this when analysing each of the tables below.

Marital Status

As key census variables, missing values for marital status and principal economic status are imputed in the Irish census using distributions found in the general population. As the distributions for the general population are likely to differ from those for the homeless population, imputed values are not included for these variables in the main body of the report and, accordingly, the results include a significant element of non–response.

Table 5.2 below details marital status among the homeless population, but the relatively high levels of non-response have been reduced through the use of administrative data sources.

• The use of administrative data reduces the level of non-response on marital status to just 8% of the homeless population aged 15 years and over.

• Using this augmented measure, 73% of the homeless population aged 15 and over were single and 12% were married (including same-sex civil partnership).

• Some 78% of males were single compared with 65% of females.

Principal Economic Status

The following table details principal economic status among the homeless population augmented with administrative data.

• Using administrative data, non-response for principal economic status is reduced to 29% of the homeless population aged 15 years and over.

• One in five homeless people aged 15 and over were at work in 2022.

• Almost half (45%) of homeless people aged 15 and over were in the labour force (i.e. either at work or unemployed) compared with 61% of the State population.

• The labour force participation rate was 49% for males and 37% for females.

• Almost 1,000 people were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability. This accounted for 13% of the homeless population aged 15 years and over compared with 5% of the same age group in the State population.

Level of Education

The table below details information about the highest level of education attained among people aged 15 years and over where administrative data was added to correct for non-response.

• The use of secondary data provides better quality data for level of education, reducing the proportion of non-response to one-third (33%) of the homeless population.

• Among the homeless population, 753 people had no formal or primary education only. This accounts for 13% of the homeless population who had finished their full-time education; this proportion was 10% for the State population.

• A further 622 people (or 11% of the homeless population who had finished their full-time education) were educated to third level.

• In comparison, 45% of the State population aged 15 and over who had finished their full-time education had a third level qualification in 2022.

Country of Citizenship

The use of administrative data for country of citizenship among the usually resident homeless population count reduces the level of non-response from 5,454 people (53%) to just over 2,700 (26%).

• Using this enhanced data, just over half of the homeless population indicated that they had either Irish only or dual Irish citizenship.

• The number of Romanian citizens was 866 (8%) and the number of people who indicated they had citizenship of an African country was 537 (5%).

• Almost one in four (23%) of the homeless population indicated that they had non-Irish citizenship compared with 12% of the State population.

• Using the enhanced data, one-third of those who indicated that they had either Irish only or dual Irish citizenship were aged under 25 years.

• Among Irish females in the homeless population, there was a higher proportion (43%) of people aged under 25 years compared with Irish males (27%) in the homeless population.

• Over 2,100 (41%) of homeless people who indicated that they were Irish citizens were aged between 25 and 44 years. These proportions were similar among males and females.

• Over 25% of the Irish homeless population was aged 45 years or over.

• The Irish male homeless population had twice as many people in the over 45 years age group (32%) compared with females (15%).

• One in five non-Irish homeless people were aged 45 years and over.

ETHOS - Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion

A European descriptive typology (ETHOS) has been developed as a research tool by FEANTSA (the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless) to provide a way of structuring research on homelessness so that valid comparisons can be made across European countries. Within this typology are four conceptual categories of homeless persons, namely 'Roofless', 'Houseless', 'Insecure' and 'Inadequate'.

For the purposes of this report, the homeless count includes people that spent Census Night in accommodation identified prior to the census as providing shelter specifically for homeless people rather than by self-identification.

Only operational categories 1, 2, 3, and 4 detailed in ETHOS within the 'Roofless' and 'Houseless' conceptual categories have been enumerated as part of the Census 2022 homeless count.