Report reveals how adults in Cork are at risk of becoming homeless due to breakdown of relationship with a parent 

The increasing number of adults living with their parents is putting many at risk of homelessness, according to a new report by the Cork Simon Community.

The report, titled ‘Home Truths: Single Adults Living With Their Parents’, shows that more than one in 10 single adults new to emergency accommodation in the South-West became homeless due to a relationship breakdown with a parent.

The author of the report, Sophie Johnston, told The Echo: “Younger adults are over-represented in homelessness services”, adding that this age group is also likely to be either living with parents or in private rental accommodation, both of which can be precarious and lead to homelessness.

One third of all 25- to 29-year-olds were living with parents in 2022, compared to under a quarter in 2011, and 23% of people aged 25-34 lived with their parents in 2022, up from 17% in 2011. Ms Johnston said: “While there are no doubt benefits and positives to living at home, and many parents and adult children will manage the relationship well, this type of doubled-up housing can add pressure to households, challenge relationships, and is inherently insecure for adult children.”

“If relationship breakdown occurs, alternative housing options are severely limited, leading to a risk of homelessness.”

Testimonials

The report contains testimonials from Cork people in emergency accommodation, with one saying that his landlord asked him to move out and he could not find another property, so he moved back home.

“It just went downhill from there — fighting with my family, it was getting worse and worse and worse,” he said. “Things just fell apart after that, and I was out on the streets for one night.

“Ended up in here [Cork Simon emergency shelter]. I’d never been in the homeless services before — I’ve worked for myself all my life. These kinda things, they soul destroy ya, they really do.”

Low supply of accommodation and high prices mean that many young adults are unable to buy their own house, so they are increasingly reliant on a precarious private rental market, from which over one third of new presentations in emergency accommodation in the southwest come.

Arguments

Living with parents can also be precarious as they are without a contract, and also more likely to have arguments, with the CSO Pulse Survey also proving that there is a higher level of disagreement in households where adults are living with parents compared to households with unrelated adults.

The report also shows that levels of employment for people living at home with their parents are much the same as those living independently, citing a CSO Pulse Survey which found that 62% of single adult respondents in full-time employment and living with parents do so for mostly financial reasons, though 94% would prefer to live independently.

One man quoted in the report explained that his mother asked him to leave after his son was born, saying: “When my son was born, I thought that would be a bit of a game changer, but two families kinda like collided, and it didn’t end up well for me at all. I was just then told: ‘You have to go’ — it got too much for my mum.”

Cork Simon caters exclusively for people over 18, Ms Johnston explained, so there are likely also high numbers of people with children living with parents who are accessing other services after being made homeless due to a parental relationship breakdown.

“The solution is more supply, more secure and affordable housing, we need more private rental properties, greater ability to purchase their own home, and more social housing,” she said.