A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

466.7 Community and Environment6.7.1 Measuring the Community and Environmental Well-beingof Ireland’s ChildrenThe community and environment within which children live affects their well-being.The community and environmental well-being of Ireland’s children is measuredusing three components: accommodation, community and environment.Housing NeedThe first component, accommodation, is measured by housing need and youthhomelessness. One of the most pressing issues in Ireland in relation to housinghas been its availability, particularly for low-income households with children. The2008 Assessment of Housing Needs carried out by the Department of Environment,Heritage and Local Government shows that in 2008 there were 27,704 householdswith children in need of social housing, up from 22,335 in 2005. Some 55 per centof households with children in need of social housing were households with onechild; a further quarter (27 per cent) were households with two children.Youth HomelessnessThe second indicator is youth homelessness. Youth homelessness is the mostextreme form of housing deprivation. Children and young people who are homelessare vulnerable to exploitation, victimisation and criminality, experience acutehousing need and are at risk of moving into adult homelessness (Mayock, Corr andO’Sullivan, 2008). There is a wide range of different reasons for young people’shomelessness, including child abuse, family problems or emotional/behaviouralproblems. Some 449 children were homeless and in HSE care in 2006, see Figure6.19. There were no significant differences by gender. In terms of age, 55 per centof homeless youths were aged 16-17 and a further 28 per cent were aged 14-15 yearsold. The remaining 17 per cent of homeless children were aged 13 or under, with 9per cent under 12 years old.Figure 6.19 Number of Children who Appeared to the HSEto be Homeless, 2006.500449400300200100108136611440Dublin Mid-LeinsterDublin North-East West South StateSource OMCYA, 2008a: 158.