‘Alarming’ new high in Cork homeless figures

Latest homelessness figures released yesterday show a further rise in Cork people in emergency accommodation, with Caitríona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners saying the numbers have “gone beyond alarming”.

There were 568 adults accessing emergency accommodation on November 18-24, 2024, across Cork city and county — the highest figure ever. Government reports show there were 562 people in Cork homeless in October; 549 in September; 547 in August, 553 in July; 546 in June; 535 in May; 530 in April; 504 in March, 532 in February; 542 in January; 546 in December 2023; and 545 in November 2023.

Nationally, there were 15,199 in emergency accommodation in November, marking the first time the monthly number had gone above 15,000.

In November 2024 a further 47 people accessed emergency accommodation in Kerry, bringing the total figure for the South West to 636, or 6% of Ireland’s total homeless population, the highest figure of any region except Dublin, which had 71% of Ireland’s homeless people.

The 636 adults in emergency accommodation were 413 males and 223 females, with 87 aged 18-24, 370 aged 25-44, 163 aged 45-64, and 16 over 65 across Cork and Kerry.

In the South West 103 families were in emergency accommodation, 69 of them single-parent families. These represented 157 adults and 201 child dependents.

Despite these figures, just five Housing First tenancies were created in the region, less than in the West and South East, which had lower numbers in emergency accommodation.

'VERY SAD'

Ms Twomey told The Echo the figures were “very high”.

“We are starting the year with an increase in homelessness figures, which is very sad. My main concern is that we could lose people to the streets. We don’t have weather conducive with homelessness here; it’s wet and windy so we run that risk of losing rough sleepers.

“The hidden homeless, those who aren’t included in these figures because they are couch surfing or staying with friends or family, the risk of them ending up on the streets is higher as well when you have such high numbers,” she said.

“I would like to see something done in the immediate now and then we can work on longer-term solutions. We are willing and so are other organisations to work with the Government on this.

“I have spoken with Simon Harris and he is very anxious to get these numbers down, which is good. We are all anxious and we’re all willing and capable of helping to find solutions.

“We don’t want to lose another person to the streets; it’s a reflection on all of us what we do about this.

“Now that these numbers have gone beyond alarming, it’s beyond time we do something about it.”