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Measuring Homelessness

Presentation by Declan Smyth, Statistician, CSO.

MPHASIS7th November 2008

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Layout of presentation

Historical pictureField staff structure/LogisticsEnumeration procedureThe Census FormTowards Census 2011

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Censuses - historical picture

1841-1911: every ten years1926-1946: every ten years1951 to-date: every five years with two

exceptions: 1976 census cancelled on cost grounds -

headcount subsequently taken in 1979 2001 census postponed to 2002 because

of foot and mouth disease in March/April 2001

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2006 census results

Population of 4.235 m - highest since 1861

+2% p.a. since 2002Highest annual

increase in EUPrevious high 1.5%

p.a. in 1971/197950% increase since

1961 (2.8m)

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

1841 1856 1871 1886 1901 1916 1931 1946 1961 1976 1991 2006P

op

ula

tio

n (m

illio

ns

)

Year

Field structure

6 Liaison Officers40 Regional Supervisors400 Field Supervisors4,400 Enumerators covering

between 290-350 households including communal establishments (hotels, prisons etc).

Enumerators Distribute/ Collect/ Check and summarise forms

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Logistics

Printing and storage of all materialsDistribution of materials (incl. paper,

mobile phones, PCs, printers etc.)Organise storage of completed

census formsAccount for all expenditures

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Enumeration procedure

Visual enumerationDistribution of census formsCollection of completed census formsScrutiny of forms on the door stepSummarisation of census returnsReturn street/townland summariesReturn of materials to CSO

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The Census Form

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Basic form is a household form Questions relating to household

accommodation 6 persons - 3 pages of questions each

Individual form - HH over 7 persons, hotel, privacy

Listing form - institutions e.g. hospital‘Living Rough’ form

Communal Establishments in Census 2006

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PopulationNumber of

establishments Persons Males FemalesEstablishmentsHospital 244 22,689 10,115 12,574Nursing home/children's home 941 23,317 8,233 15,084Educational establishment 80 4,369 2,276 2,093Religious community 534 6,038 1,754 4,284Defence establishment 29 810 730 80Prison 15 3,133 3,018 115Shelter or Refuge ** 189 5,681 3,646 2,035Hotel 800 30,528 16,020 14,508Guest house, boarding house and B&B 1,075 6,643 3,726 2,917Tourist/youth hostel or campsite 158 3,099 1,739 1,360Civilian ships, boats and barges 32 368 364 4Other 97 1,310 646 664Not stated 3 15 9 6Total 4,197 108,000 52,276 55,724

**(including accommodation for homeless persons)

Towards Census 2011

Advisory Sub-group on the Homeless have held meeting in CSO – 14 October 2008 Focus Ireland HSE Simon Community of Ireland The Homeless Agency D/Environment, Heritage and Local

Government Fingal County Council

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Towards Census 2011

Group to agree a list of institutions that persons who reside in are likely to be homeless prior to Census 2011

Homeless Agency (HA) plan to assist CSO with enumeration of the homeless in the Dublin area

HA conduct their own enumeration of those sleeping rough in Dublin regularly and could test collecting the data CSO propose to gather in Census 2011

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Towards Census 2011

The Homeless Forums in Local Authorities are a key point of contact for CSO in identifying institutions, especially in areas outside of Dublin

For those Sleeping Rough intend to capture Name Sex Date of Birth/Age Place of Birth/Nationality

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Towards Census 2011

CSO will keep in contact with the various agencies/organisations and the D/Environment in relation to the enumeration of the Homeless and outputs to be produced from Census 2011.

Outputs for 2011 – 2 categories, Sleeping Rough and Homeless Institutions

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MPHASIS7th November 2008

Any questions?

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