Homelessness continues to rise as the number of people on the

social housing waiting list passes 50,000

 

Belfast, 28th May, 2026 : – Commenting on the release of Northern Ireland’s Q1 Housing Bulletin today by the Department for Communities, Deirdre Canavan, Deputy Director of Services and Development at homelessness charity Depaul, is calling on the government to take radical action as the homelessness crisis deepens, with now 39,008 households in Northern Ireland living under “Housing Stress”.

“It is unfortunately not surprising to us at Depaul that 2,627 households in Northern Ireland were accepted as being statutory homeless in the first three months of 2026. The social housing waiting list continues to grow, with the number of applicants passing 50,000 for the first time.

We are mindful that behind everyone one of those numbers is a person, men, women and children, living through the trauma that comes with experiencing homelessness.”

“Although there were 1,700 social housing development starts, this takes the total number of starts in the last year to 1,765. We need to see much more if the Executive is going to hit its target of beginning building 5,850 new social homes by 2027.

We also remain greatly concerned over budgets – we are almost in June and still no budget has been agreed by the Executive so we are operating services at risk. This is an unacceptable and unsustainable situation and truly worrying given the growing homelessness crisis in Northern Ireland.”

“The homelessness sector is already struggling with the cost of living crisis. If the upcoming budget doesn’t include an inflationary uplift for Supporting People, we could potentially see staffing levels decrease and therefore a decrease in homelessness service provision in Northern Ireland.

This would have a catastrophic impact for those in homeless crises who already face dramatically worsened physical and mental health outcomes; they would have no other option than to turn to acute emergency and statutory services who are already under pressure. That cannot and should not happen.”

“A lack of funding for the homelessness sector will increase homelessness in Northern Ireland and the amount of money spent on emergency accommodation will continue to skyrocket. Housing is the most basic and fundamental need. We remain appalled that a large number of people in Northern Ireland do not have a secure, affordable, decent place to call home.”

Read Full NI Housing Bulletin 2026

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For media queries contact: Colette Campbell: Communications & Advocacy Depaul – colette.campbell@depaulcharity.net