10,000 present as homeless in Northern Irelin six months

Nearly 10,000 people presented as homeless. (Victoria Jones/PA)

Almost 10,000 people presented as homeless between April September last year, a new series of government statistics has revealed.

From April to September 2018, 9,673 households presented as homeless in Northern Ireland.

Of those 70% or 6,818 met legal definition were accepted as statutorily homeless.

As of January 2,065 households were living in temporary accomodation.

The figures come from first Northern IrelHomelessness Bulletin published by Department for Communities (DfC), Northern IrelStatistics Research Agency (NISRA) Northern Irel HoExecutive (NIHE).

The statistics do not include those sleeping rough. A study published last year by HoExecutive revealed there were 16 people sleeping rough one night in November.

The main reason people presented as homeless was because they considered their accommodation not reasonable.

Other reasons included breakdown of a sharing arrangement or a family dispute loss of rented accomodation.

The top types of temporary accommodation include private single lets, voluntary sector hostels HoExecutive hostels.

Belfast was area with highest amount of homeless presenters with 8.6 per 1,000. Derry City Strabane was next with 7.1 per 1,000.

The NIHE are responsible for dealing with homelessness in Northern Irelhave a duty to provide interim and/or permanent accommodation for certain homeless households, dependent upon investigations assessment of their circumstances.

“Homelessness is often understood as people living on streets. However, whilst rough sleepers may represent one element of homelessness, it is a misconception to think that these are only homeless people who need help,” bulletin said.

“Even those who have a roof over their heads may still be considered homeless.”

Belfast Telegraph Digital