Number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Cork increases by over a third, Cork Simon reports

The number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Cork increased by more than a third last year, while the number of people depending on Cork Simon’s soup run more than doubled, a new report from the charity has revealed.

The report comes in advance of Simon Week from September 23rd-27th, when the homeless charity will run a number of events across the country highlighting the issues facing those who are homeless and how to support them.

According to Cork Simon director Dermot Kavanagh, 2023 was “a very tough year” for the charity, with the number of people seeking its help, the number of long-term homeless and the number of people sleeping rough on the streets continuing to rise year-on-year compared to 2022.

“The number of people turning to us for help increased by 9 per cent in just 12 months to 1,498 people. We met more people sleeping rough, we supported more people in our emergency accommodation, and we responded to a growing complexity of need,” he said.

Mr Kavanagh said Cork Simon had increased capacity at its emergency accommodation by 17 per cent to 75 people a night in 2023 but the number of people who were long-term homeless – defined as those stuck in emergency accommodation for over six months – rose by 34 per cent in 2023.

And he revealed that the number of people its outreach team met sleeping rough on the streets of Cork also increased by a third while the number of people depending each night on Cork Simon for its soup run doubled in the same period.

According to the Cork Simon annual report for 2023, 1,498 men and women were supported across all Cork Simon services – a 9 per cent increase – while its emergency shelter and Night Light emergency accommodation service supported 540 people in 2023, up from an average of 64 per night in 2022 to 75 per night.

The report also showed that the number of people who are long-term homeless (stays of more than six months in emergency accommodation over a 12-month period) at Cork Simon’s emergency shelter increased to 67 people in 2023, a 34 per cent rise year-on-year.

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Cork Simon’s outreach team met 577 men and women sleeping rough in 2023 – a 39 per cent increase compared to 2022. The team met an average of 30 people per night – a 135 per cent increase – while Cork Simon’s soup run served 13,743 hot meals in 2023, a 102 per cent increase.

Cork Simon supported 46 people to move from homelessness to secure and affordable, supported and independent housing in 2023, while 101 people were supported by Cork Simon’s addiction treatment and aftercare programme, representing a 23 per cent increase.

“We’re meeting more people now who are being pushed into homelessness because they cannot find a place they can afford to live. We established a new homeless prevention service as a pilot last year to prevent people from ending up in emergency shelters or sleeping rough.

“In just nine months the service prevented almost 60 people from taking up a much-needed emergency bed and becoming enmeshed in homeless services. We’ve now put the service on a more permanent footing,” said Mr Kavanagh.

Meanwhile. the report shows that 12,497 donors donated €5,203, with 88 cent of every euro spent directly on activities and services aimed at ending homelessness which were provided by 400 part-time volunteers and 31 full-time volunteers from five different countries.

Mr Kavanagh said: “Responding to these challenges against the backdrop of addressing our 2022 deficit highlights the community’s resilience and determination to be there for everyone pushed into homelessness.

“We managed to reduce our 2022 deficit by well over half a million euro to €180,000 and we’re working on breaking even by the end of this year, putting us in a stronger position to continue meeting the significant challenges ahead.”