Focus Ireland, a non-profit organisation working to end homelessness in Ireland, launched their No Child Without a Home initiative on September 27th. The launch comes after figures from the Department of Housing showed that child homelessness in Ireland reached an all-time high of 5,000 children — a 135 per cent increase since 2021.
The campaign urges the public to add their name to a petition pressuring the government to take stronger measures to end child homelessness through a series of demands. These include a stop no fault evictions into homelessness, a stop to families being evicted because of unaffordable rents, to build enough of the right houses in the right places, to prioritise long-term homeless families for social housing and to protect children by putting their needs and interests first.
Though the Department of Housing increased its 2026 budget from roughly €8 billion last year to €11.3 billion, it made no mention of homelessness for the second year in a row, said Focus Ireland.
“While sheep welfare received specific budget attention, the welfare of thousands of children whose childhoods are being stolen day by day robbed by homelessness was totally absent from the Budget speeches,” said Director of Advocacy Mike Allen.
As of August 2025, the Department of Housing records the total number of individuals relying on emergency homeless accommodation as 16,350 people. Focus Ireland notes that these figures are only reflective of those residing in state emergency homeless accommodation, yet overlooks “those that are in own door temporary accommodation, domestic violence refuges, asylum seekers, people who are sleeping rough, and the very many who are hidden homeless and staying with family or friends in insecure housing”.
Focus Ireland marks its 40th anniversary of fighting to end homelessness this year.
