People in Cork ‘stuck’ in emergency accommodation due to lack of permanent homes to go to

While Cork has a lower rate of people sleeping rough than many other European cities, people here are more likely to get “stuck” in emergency accommodation, new research has shown.

A Focus Ireland report, based on data compiled from 35 EU cities including Cork and Dublin, looked at homelessness under different categories such as sleeping rough or in emergency accommodation.

Latest government data showed 819 homeless people in Cork in May, but the figures only cover those in emergency accommodation, with rough sleepers only counted in Dublin.

The European data showed Cork had a rate of 1.5 persons per 1,000 of population sleeping rough, compared to 1.2 in Dublin. Cork is 25th, while Dublin is the eighth out of 35.

However, Cork is the sixth-highest and Dublin the second-highest of the 35 cities in terms of people in homeless accommodation.

One person seeping rough too many

Paul Sheehan of Cork Simon said: “The report shows that Cork and Dublin are both good at getting people off the streets and into emergency accommodation.

“Though we say one person sleeping rough is too many, it’s good to see we have lower numbers compared to other countries.”

Mr Sheehan said that there are several factors at play when someone “feels like an emergency bed isn’t for them”, and decides to sleep on the street instead.

“Congregate settings like shelters can feel more dangerous than a known spot outdoors, especially for anyone who has had a bad experience in the past with violence, intimidation, or theft.

“The crowded space can be overwhelming for people with substance use or mental health reasons, and there’s issues with trauma eroding the willingness to engage with services for those who have been harmed in prior institutional settings like care or prison.”

Stuck in homelessness accommodation

Mr Sheehan said that despite lower rough-sleeping numbers: “The problem here is that people get stuck in homelessness accommodation because there’s no permanent homes for them to move into.”

The European data also showed that the vast majority of homeless people in Cork, and across Europe, are single adults, a group Mr Sheehan said represent more than 75% of all homeless people in Cork, but “are invisible in housing policy in Ireland”.

Mr Sheehan said that getting an eviction notice is the most common trigger for homelessness in Cork, compared to family breakdowns and money troubles in the rest of the EU, according to the report.

He said this shows that Irish housing policy is responsible for the large numbers of people who are residing in emergency accommodation here.