Concern raised over 'record' numbers in emergency accommodation in Cork 

SERIOUS concerns have been raised over the high number of people recorded as homeless, with the latest figures showing more than 530 adults in Cork were living in emergency accommodation last month.

The latest monthly homelessness report published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage showed that 103 families with 201 dependents were reported to have accessed emergency accommodation in the South West region, comprising Cork and Kerry, in the same period.

Cork Penny Dinners chief Caitríona Twomey said that the September figures do not give a true reflection of the actual numbers who are homeless “as there are people staying with family members, with friends, etcetera”, she said.

“We’re facing into a winter now, again, that’s going to bring cruel hardship on people and there will be more people homeless. We need to bring down the numbers of people who are homeless and the Government needs to take this very, very seriously, so we don’t lose any people.

“People are dying on our streets,” she said.

Paul Sheehan, campaigns and communications manager at Cork Simon, raised concerns over the “record” numbers in emergency accommodation.

He noted that the September figure of 536 adults accessing emergency accommodation in Cork represented a marginal reduction of two people on the previous month, but said: “What’s of concern to us is the monthly figures have been over 500 for almost a year now, since October 2022.

“There is no other way to say it — they are record numbers in emergency accommodation.

“The September figures alone, if you look back at September 2022, it’s an 11% increase.

“This is just the start of the winter months and already the weather in the first month of winter has been fairly severe, to say the least, and we can’t see these figures either stay where they are or increase.”

He said that the extra capacity to provide a bed for the night for people who become homeless would be in private emergency accommodation, essentially B&B and hotel rooms.

“To be fair to Cork City Council, they will pull out all the stops to ensure there is a bed there for everyone, particularly over the winter months, but that’s a very, very temporary solution.”

Mr Sheehan was sharply critical of Budget 2024 for its failure to address the homelessness issue.

“It is essentially an issue of affordable housing — it isn’t there in any shape or form and until that’s fixed we can’t see the numbers falling,” he said.

Sinn Féin’s Cork North Central TD Thomas Gould, party spokesman on housing, said the latest report indicated that the Government had “thrown in the towel” on housing.

“Month after month, we see the number of people experiencing homelessness in Cork topping over 500, with child homelessness continuing to increase,” he said.

“This scandal is a direct result of the Government’s broken housing policies.

“It’s a depressing, intolerable situation,” he said.