“The increase over the past year has been particularly steep,” said Ms Sophie Johnston, spokesperson for Cork Simon Community. The latest Department of Housing data shows 736 adults were living in emergency accommodation in Cork in November, up from 589 in 2024 and 545 the year before. Yet, Ms Johnston said, “behind every figure is a life. These numbers are of real meaning and real consequence”.
Almost eight in ten homeless adults in Cork are single adults, Ms Johnston said, leaving the South West with one of the highest rates of single-adult homelessness in the country. “The challenge isn’t the people, it’s the housing for the people,” she said, adding that the official figures underestimate the scale of the crisis because they do not capture “hidden homelessness.”
Cork Simon’s emergency shelter is now operating at full capacity nightly, with increasing numbers of people spending six months or more in emergency accommodation. “Emergency accommodation should only ever be short-term,” Ms Johnston said. “It’s a noisy, crowded environment and not suited to long stays. The longer someone is stuck there, the greater the impact on their physical health, mental health, wellbeing and hope. It’s trauma on top of trauma.”
She said staff support residents day-to-day with practical steps, plans, and employment and training programmes, but progress is difficult when housing is scarce. “People are trying and trying, but the competition is enormous and they’re often at the back of the queue,” she said.
Ms Johnston added that staff are seeing “more young people, more older people and more women”, saying old stereotypes no longer match reality.
