Small reduction in Cork homelessness figures 'a chink of light' rather than a trend 

A reduction from 553 adults seeking emergency accommodation in Cork city and county at the end of July to 547 homeless in the region in the figures issued for August has been described as"‘a chink of light but not a trend". 

Paul Sheehan, the director of Simon in Cork said instead that the overall trend was tending to increase and that, based on the experience of previous years, the figures for those seeking emergency accommodation would creep upwards again in the latter months of the year.

The latest figures, published yesterday by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage also reported a slight decrease in the number of children seeking emergency accommodation in the South-West region, incorporating Cork and Kerry. 

These are down from 183 in July to 179 in August. 

The figures however represent a significant increase from the corresponding figures for August 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic, when there were 419 people availing of emergency accommodation in Cork city and county. 

Nationally, homelessness is now at record levels. 

The latest report shows the number of people in emergency homeless accommodation reached 14,486, the highest number ever recorded. 

This figure included 10,067 adults and 4,419 children.

Speaking to The Echo, Cork Simon Campaigns and Communications manager, Paul Sheehan said while the "bit of a drop" was welcome, it didn’t represent a trend.

“It’s not unusual for there to be occasional dips there from time to time, the figures for the families are also slightly lower than in July but we’re pretty much in the same place we have been for quite some time.

“There simply isn’t enough housing and, more importantly, there isn’t enough housing that people can afford and we’re seeing more people who are homeless because they can’t put a roof over their head, they simply can’t afford it.

“Once you’re stuck in emergency accommodation, it becomes very difficult to get out of it.” 

Padraig Rice, Social Democrats councillor in the Cork City South Central ward, blamed the lack of social and affordable housing in Cork for figures. 

“The total number of social homes owned by the Council is increasing at a glacial pace,” he said. “The Council started 2023 with 10,418 homes, and by the end of the year, it was 10,598. 

This is an increase of 180 homes and given that there are 3,546 applications for social housing we have to be building far more new homes each and every year.” 

He also said that the average turnaround time of 32 weeks, according to the latest National Oversight and Audit Report for reoccupying social homes once the existing tenant has moved was too slow.

Laura Harmon, Labour Party councillor in the Cork City South West ward described the latest figures as unacceptable both nationally and for Cork.

“There are thousands of vacant and derelict properties in Cork,” she said, suggesting that it should be "financially unviable to hoard property like that and allow it sit there increasing in value".