Report: Long-term homelessness climbing

The average stay in emergency accommodation in Cork last year was two weeks longer than in 2022 as adults continue to present with increasingly complex needs.

These are just some of the alarming revelations published yesterday in the Cork Simon Community’s Annual Impact Report 2025.

In 2025, the homeless charity supported 1,403 men and women across its services, slightly fewer than in 2024. But the pressure did not ease.

With nowhere to move on to, people had no choice but to stay longer with the average stay in 2025 sitting at 58 days.

Across 2025, almost two out of every three beds in the shelter were occupied by people who were long-term homeless, and so far in 2026, things appear to be getting worse.

Cork Simon’s impact report comes as new figures from the Department of Housing show that the number of adults in emergency accommodation across Cork and Kerry has risen by 14% since January of this year.

“This year, more and more people across Cork and Kerry have found themselves with nowhere to live,” said Cork Simon Community CEO, Dermot Kavanagh. “On an average night in 2025, more people stayed in our emergency shelter than we have ever recorded.”

“Far too often, someone came to our door late at night when we were full, and we had no bed to offer them.

“The figures for this year so far tell us the pressure isn’t easing. It’s growing. Behind every one of those numbers is a man or woman with nowhere else to turn,” he added.

In October 2025, Cork Simon’s Outreach team took part in the EU Homelessness Count, a city-wide street count that found no fewer than 36 men and women sleeping rough in Cork on a single night.

On a positive note, 38 men and women welcomed “hard won” moves from homelessness into independent and supported housing during 2025, while Cork Simon helped 259 people who had previously been homeless to keep their homes.

“The men and women staying long-term in our shelter are not there for lack of will to move on,” said Mr Kavanagh. “They’re there because there is nowhere affordable and appropriate for them to go.

“National housing policy must work for everyone experiencing homelessness. For single adults, that means homes they can afford and the support to keep them,” he added.

A first-hand account

Among the people featured in the report is Marguerite, who spent several years couch surfing before moving into a home of her own that she can afford, with Cork Simon’s support.

“It can drag you down to your knees,” she said.

“You have to drag everything with you. You weren’t sleeping at night. You were only dozing off and waking up when you hear the lightest sound. You think you’re safe, but you’re not. When I think of home now, it means this place. I’m happy. I’m settled. It’s my safe place. It’s my own. Only for Simon, I’d probably be dead, to be honest with you.”

To read the full Cork Simon Annual Impact Report 2025, visit corksimonannualreport.com.