Predominantly Irish

Among those that provided a nationality, a slightly higher proportion of the usually resident homeless population was found to be non-Irish (14.1 per cent or 849 people) compared with the entire population where the proportion was 11.6 per cent.

Among the non-Irish homeless population, UK nationals were the largest group followed by Polish nationals, accounting for 146 and 124 persons respectively.

There were 247 African nationals counted as homeless, 91 of whom were Nigerian nationals representing the largest group within this cohort.

The proportion of males to females is similar within the Irish and Non-Irish homeless count. Among Irish persons in the homeless population, 58.6 per cent were male, compared with 57.5 per cent among non-Irish persons.

As can be seen in Figure 3.1, 84.6 per cent of homeless persons who lived in Dublin were Irish with 15.4 per cent non-Irish. For the rest of Ireland, 88.5 per cent of homeless persons were Irish, while 11.5 per cent were non-Irish.

Ethnic background

Of the total usually resident homeless population, 3,853 persons described their ethnicity as ‘Irish’.

The next largest ethnic group stated was ‘African’, which contained 598 persons, while 517 persons described their background as 'Irish Traveller'.

When examined by sex, the category 'Other white' had the highest proportion of males with 67.0 per cent, while 'Asian, including Chinese' had the lowest with 44.3 per cent males.

Of the homeless population count, 16.6 per cent of persons did not respond to the ethnicity question, compared with 2.6 per cent for the entire population.

Religion

In all, 59.2 per cent or 4,085 persons of the entire homeless population described themselves as Roman Catholic. A further 10.0 per cent of the population, representing 694 persons, were in other Christian denominations, of which 253 persons described themselves as Church of Ireland.

There were 320 Muslims among the homeless population and 337 persons who indicated that they had no religion.

General health

Overall in the homeless population 61.9 per cent indicated that their general health was ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’. The corresponding figure for the entire population was 87.0 per cent. On the other hand, 18.8 per cent of homeless persons had health which was ‘Fair’, ‘Bad’ or ‘Very bad’ compared with 9.6 per cent for the general population.

Females in the homeless population had better health than males, with 67.6 per cent of females describing their health as ‘Good’ or better compared with 57.8 per cent of males.

As with the overall population, general health tended to decline among older age groups in the homeless population. In the age group 15 to 24 the results show that 72.0 per cent had ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’ health. In contrast, 38.5 per cent of those aged 55-64 had ‘Very good’ or Good’ health.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E5012

Interactive table: StatBank Link E5013

Disabilities

The proportion of persons with a disability among the homeless population was higher than for the general population. A total of 1,871 persons had a disability, representing 27.1 per cent of the total, in contrast to the general population where the rate was 13.5 per cent.

The most common type of disability among the homeless population was a difficulty with pain, breathing or another chronic illness or condition, accounting for 12.2 per cent of homeless persons. A further 11.9 per cent had a psychological or an emotional condition, with 9.0 per cent indicating either a difficulty working at a job or business or attending school/college or a difficulty learning, remembering or concentrating.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E5014

Type of accommodation

Homeless persons were identified based on where they were on Census Night rather than by self-identification. Accommodation for homeless persons is categorised as either Private Emergency Accommodation, PEA, (namely commercial hotels and B&Bs), Temporary Emergency Accommodation (such as hostels), or Supported Temporary Accommodation. Individual properties were identified in one of three ways: by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG) or local authorities; by agencies involved in providing support for homeless persons; by CSO field staff during the census field operation. For more information see Background notes.

In addition, a count of persons sleeping rough was performed on Census Night nationally. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) managed the rough sleeper count in Dublin while local authorities in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Louth and Sligo conducted the count with assistance and guidance from the DRHE. For other areas, persons sleeping rough were identified by local Census field staff.

Just under 42.0 per cent of the homeless population (or 2,891 persons) were enumerated in accommodation which was categorised as Private Emergency Accommodation (PEA). A further 2,737 persons were enumerated in Supported Temporary Accommodation (STA) while 778 persons were enumerated in Temporary Emergency Accommodation (TEA). A total of 123 persons were found sleeping rough on Census Night. All but 19 of them were males. Dublin accounted for 102 of the 123 rough sleepers enumerated in the census.