Cork homeless shelters turning people away as crisis deepens
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Cork homeless shelters are having to turn people away due to overcrowding as the housing crisis deepens.
Cork Simon emergency shelter is full to capacity every night, as is its accommodation overflow project called Night Light where people can sleep on 15 mattresses on the floor to get them off the streets, even when no beds are available.
Paul Sheehan, Campaigns and Communications manager with Cork Simon, said that they have seen an increase in people seeking their services since protections brought in during Covid like a ban on evictions and a rent freeze were removed.
“In July, we had to turn people away one night per week. In the last two weeks, we’ve had to turn people away two or three times a week.
“There’s definitely an increase in the number of people in need of emergency accommodation," Mr Sheehan said.
“There has been a slow but steady increase since the moratorium on evictions was lifted.
“Our emergency shelter is full every night.
“The cost of housing is having a big impact on people and that is now being aggravated by the cost-of-living increases.
“One thing we have seen over recent months is an increase in women using the services.”
Women escaping abusive relationships once lockdowns ended may be a contributing factor to this increase, he said. But the numbers of women using Cork Simon have been steadily increasing in recent years.
He said:
Although Cork Simon reduced its capacity over Covid to better enforce social distancing, with double rooms reduced to single occupancy, that capacity has increased to pre-pandemic levels in recent months.
Emergency policy measures brought in over Covid to ease homelessness like the evictions ban and cap on rent increases show that change is possible and should be re-introduced, at least temporarily, to protect people from homelessness during this crisis, Mr Sheehan said.
“The price of rental in the private market is now beyond many people’s reach, not just people depending on the Department of Social Protection.
“The housing system is under big pressure at the moment. Especially if you are single you’re really depending on the private rental sector but high prices and low supply keep many people pretty much locked out of that market.
"The number of one-bedroom apartments available are at a trickle, if at all, and when they do become available the rents are just astronomical. That’s not going to change in the short to medium term.” He said that keeping people in housing and diverting people from emergency homeless services was “in everyone’s interests.”
On Sunday, a homeless woman was attacked in the city and hospitalised with her injuries. The woman, aged in her 30s, is understood to have been attacked with glass on Oliver Plunkett Street Lower on Sunday at approximately 7.30pm.
She was taken to the Mercy Hospital but her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Another woman appeared before Cork District Court on Monday in connection with the assault.