New Simon homelessness report focuses on family fallouts
“Things just fell apart after that. I was out on the streets for one night. Ended up in here (Cork Simon emergency shelter). I’d never been in the homeless services before – I’ve worked for myself all my life. These kinda things, they soul destroy ya, they really do.”
Those were the words of ‘Brendan’, a participant in Cork Simon’s third Home Truths paper, Single Adults Living with their Parents, which was published this morning and looks at the increasing proportion of younger adults having to live with their parents as well as the over representation of younger adults in emergency accommodation.
Almost one in every ten (9.3%) single adults new to emergency accommodation in the southwest are homeless due to a relationship breakdown with a parent, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage’s Performance Report for Quarter 4 2023 revealed.
Census 2022 found that almost one-quarter (23%) of 25–34 year olds were living with their parents in 2022, up from 17% in 2011; rising to one third of 25–29 year olds compared to less than a quarter eleven years earlier.
25–44 year olds represent almost two in every five (38%) adults in the southwest but account for well over half (58%) of adults in the region’s emergency accommodation, making younger adults most at risk of homelessness.
Home Truths author, Sophie Johnston said the trends combined are concerning: “While there are no doubt benefits and positives to ‘living at home’, and many parents and adult children will manage the relationship well, this type of doubled up housing can add pressure to households, challenge relationships and is inherently insecure for adult children. If relationship breakdown occurs, alternative housing options are severely limited, leading to a risk of homelessness.”
Analysing Census data, Home Truths: Single Adults living with their Parents found the majority of adults over 20 years of age and living with parents, are in full-time employment, mirroring the full-time employment rate among the general population. Among 25–29 year olds - the age-group that recorded the largest proportional increase in adults living with parents in the eleven years to 2022, over three in every four (78%) are in full-time employment.
Most young adults want to escape their childhood bedrooms and start living independently and Sophie Johnston said the data indicates the extent to which young adults’ lives are on hold.
“In a properly functioning housing market, these young adults in full-time employment should be able to afford to live independently. A CSO Pulse survey called Life at Home indicates almost all want to, but for the majority, finances play a part in their reason for remaining at home. The increase in younger adults living at home and in full-time employment, coupled with lack of housing supply and high prices, points to dysfunction in the housing system, putting younger adults’ lives on hold and potentially driving homelessness.”
‘Brendan’ shared his experience for the Home Truths report. “Landlord came to me said ‘your contract’s up’. It was hard to find somewhere. Nobody wants to take HAP. My mother said I could move home, so I said grand. But it just went downhill from there. I was 30/31. Fighting with my family. It was getting worse and worse and worse. Things just fell apart after that. I was out on the streets for one night. Ended up in here (Cork Simon emergency shelter). I’d never been in the homeless services before – I’ve worked for myself all my life. These kinda things, they soul destroy ya, the really do.”
Home Truths: Single Adults Living with their Parents notes the increase in adults living with parents amidst a housing crisis is reflected in social housing waiting lists. The proportion of adults qualified for and awaiting social housing support, and living with parents while they wait, has doubled in less than a decade in Cork, from 12% in 2013 to 24% in 2022.
The report also explored changes in household tenure in the southwest between Census 2011 and Census 2022. It concludes that younger adults, particularly 30–34 year olds, are increasingly reliant on the private rental market to live independently, yet according to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage’s latest Performance Report, over 40% of single adults new to emergency accommodation in the last quarter of 2023, came from the private rented sector.
Sophie added: “With limited social rental housing available to younger adults and buying a home further out of reach, the main housing options for young adults are increasingly to rent privately at high cost, or to live at home with their parents. Both arrangements carry insecurity and risks of homelessness. More affordable, secure social housing is urgently needed across the age groups, including for younger adults.”