Nineteen children 'homeless' in Cavan

Nineteen children and their parents have been provided with emergency accommodation by Cavan County Council in the first 10 months of this year, to October 31.
The council figures saw a month-on-month increase in the numbers of families desperately trying to put a roof over their children's heads. 
A spokesperson for Cavan County Council confirmed to The Anglo-Celt that, in addition to the 19 children, a total of 27 adults applied for emergency accommodation so far this year.
The council has also revealed that the average length of stay for an individual or family in a B&B, provided as emergency accommodation, is up to 15 days. The cost to the local authority of providing this provision varies from close to €60 per single room per night, to more than €100 for a family room per night.
The local authority, meanwhile, has two beds available for emergency cases at Dundalk Simon Hostel.
The cost to Cavan County Council when an individual stays is €70 weekly, where the average length of stay for an individual in the hostel is 28 days.
Cavan County Council does not share costs of providing emergency accommodation. Louth County Council is the lead authority for the North East region with regards to homelessness and funding for same. The North East region contains Louth, Cavan and Monaghan.
Last year Cavan County Council, along with Louth and Monaghan, paid more than a quarter of a million euro to provide for six so-called tenancy sustainments.
Cavan and Louth councils paid for a bundle of four tenancy sustainments with Dublin Simon costing the authorities €137,282, and a further €96,575 for two more tenancy sustainments with the Peter McVerry Trust.
The outlay is in addition to payments made by Cavan County Council, which spent twice as much in 2018 funding emergency bed stays with Dundalk Simon than it did in the previous two years combined.
In 2016, the Council spent €9,160 accessing temporary emergency accommodation for homeless persons with the Louth-based facility, compared to €22,362 by the end of last year.
On top of payments made to Dundalk Simon, the Council spent a further €10,241 in providing shelter to homeless presentations, including families, with local B&B providers.
This figure is significantly down from a height of €24,242 spent in 2016, and €20,454 in 2017.
Separately, the Government has stated that homelessness is an “absolute priority” for the Government.
The Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government's regular 'Homelessness Report' shows, that, in all, 13 people accessed homeless services in County Cavan in September 2019, up from just eight in August. One person was recorded as homeless in Monaghan. The latest figures from Cavan will feed into the next report.