ONE of Ireland’s homeless charities, The Simon Community has said that there was an increase of 33% in the number of people seeking its help last year, according to figures published in its 2016 annual report.
The homelessness charity recorded significant§ increases in access to its services all over the country as over 11,000 people came to it looking for assistance. To put that into perspective, that’s almost enough people to reach the capacity of the 3Arena, which can fit 13,000.
This included 1,417 families with 2,860 children, in a country where 5,000 adults and over 3,000 children are set to spend their Christmas in emergency accommodation.
Across its range of services in the last year, the charity assisted 2,818 people into housing all over the country.
To break it down, it helped 1,150 people access emergency accommodation, 2,925 receive specialist treatment, and support services, and 4,547 people to access prevention, early intervention and advice services.
Over 2,500 volunteers around the country put in the work to give these people the help they needed.
National spokesperson Niamh Randall said that 2017 has seen the problems continue to worsen: “Every person has their own story; what is common to all is that homelessness and housing insecurity is traumatic, stressful and filled with uncertainty.
“The Simon Communities see this impact each and every day all across the country.”
Randall went on to say that the government’s policy to tackle the homelessness problem to date has not worked, and it can and must do better in 2018: “The New Year will ring in with more than 5,000 adults and 3,000 children living in emergency accommodation, with many more trapped in housing insecurity and hidden in doorways and squats across our towns and cities…this is not acceptable for any man, woman or child in Ireland in 2018.”
