'It’s almost a life-or-death situation': 76 homeless people a night in Cork Simon

Cork Simon’s emergency shelter supported an average of 76 people per night in 2024, its highest-ever level, as €6.3m in donations helped the organisation to support more people and clear a financial deficit.

Yesterday, Cork Simon Community published its annual impact report for 2024, documenting how it responded to “unprecedented growth” in the need for homeless services in Cork and Kerry last year.

The report reveals significant increases in homelessness indicators, including that Cork Simon’s emergency shelter on Anderson’s Quay accommodated an average of 76 people per night, the highest nightly average ever, up from 64 per night in 2022.

This is in line with the sharp monthly increase in homelessness figures published by the Government, which show that the average number of people in Cork emergency accommodation has grown from 530 in 2023 to 548 in 2024.

The figures have continued to grow, suggesting the organisation has been under more strain in the last 10 months.

The 2025 Cork monthly average number of people in emergency accommodation is 649 so far, with the figures breaching 600 for the first time in January and reaching a new record every month since, up to 679 in the most recent data.

Project outreach worker Kevin said: “During the darker months, you’re going out, finding people under bridges or behind hedges. Not only are they afraid for their lives, they’re cold, they’re lonely.

“It’s almost a life-or-death situation… the face of homelessness had kind of changed, more young people, more old people. There’s a lot more women on the streets now.

“We have people that have jobs, people you’d never think you could meet them on the streets. It’s the volume, the amount of people. Nothing shocks us, really.

“You can see the pain in people’s faces, in their eyes. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how many sleeping bags you have over you, the cold gets in.

“All these situations become normalised — but when you stand back and look at it, it’s not normal, it’s not OK in a modern Irish society.”

In 2024, long-term homelessness increased by 18%, to 79 people having to spend more than six months in Cork Simon’s emergency accommodation, the annual report says.

Other services are also up: the outreach team met an average of 34 people per night sleeping rough, a 13% increase on 2023, and the soup run served 14,346 hot meals, a 4% increase on the previous year.

Cork Simon’s CEO Dermot Kavanagh described 2024 as “one of the most demanding years yet”, adding: “We worked flat out to meet the growing need for homeless services in Cork and Kerry, and while the challenges were real, so were the breakthroughs.”

Cork Simon continued to make progress in its core mission throughout 202, with 49 people moving from homelessness into secure, affordable housing — a 6.5% increase.

The shelter diversion programme helped divert 75 people from entering emergency accommodation, while 250 people with experience of homelessness were supported to maintain their tenancies, and the charity reached its 100th Housing First tenancy.

Cork Simon’s specialist services also continued to grow last year: 87 people were supported through addiction treatment and aftercare services, and 274 people participated in education and training programmes, with 43 progressing to employment.

James, a Cork Simon service user, shared some of his experiences of homelessness for the report, speaking of the relief of emergency accommodation after being on the street: “Rough sleeping…you feel exposed, so, yeah, just the security of a place like this, I mean, with the ability to just lock the door…that’s huge.

“If I had a euro for every time that a staff member said: ‘James, if you want to chat, you know where we are’… It’ll be a genuine ‘how are you?’, and they’re actually listening.

“It makes you feel valued, which, I suppose, in turn, makes you more able to value yourself again.”

The 2024 report also shows that the organisation successfully eliminated its financial deficit, clearing the shortfall first reported in 2022, despite facing the highest levels of need for its services in its almost 55-year history and the increasing complexity of need among people seeking support.

Mr Kavanagh said: “After two difficult years of deficits, we managed to clear the shortfall in 2024, highlighting our community’s resilience and commitment to the hundreds of people who rely on us.

“Crucial to achieving this, amidst rapidly increasing costs-of-service delivery, were our statutory partners and our incredible donors, who continued to believe in, and support, our work, despite cost-of-living pressures hitting everyone.

“Their generosity was truly humbling, and made all the difference.”

The financial turnaround and enhanced service delivery in 2024 were made possible by extraordinary community support.

Nearly 14,000 donors contributed €6.3m to Cork Simon’s work, demonstrating remarkable generosity during a period when cost-of-living pressures and uncertainty affected households.

In total, Cork Simon supported 1,471 men and women across all its services in 2024, which was also made possible by the compassion and commitment of 424 part-time volunteers, 23 full-time volunteers, and 21 students on placement.

The organisation maintained its commitment to efficiency, spending 87c of every euro directly on activities and services aimed at ending homelessness.