Emergency Accommodation
If you or someone you know is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, please contact our Emergency Shelter on: 021 4278 728
Donate Now
Around-the-clock emergency shelter
Our Emergency Shelter on Anderson’s Quay, in the heart of Cork’s city centre, provides round-the-clock temporary accommodation and one-to one support for men and women over 18 years of age. It is fully occupied every night.
Our Shelter accommodates up to 75 people each day – the most we’ve ever accommodated since it opened in 1996.
“I was in the Shelter for about a year. They look after people; they understand people. I knew they’d understand me, my addiction; the proper help that I needed.”
– ‘Elizabeth’
Not just an emergency bed
Our goal is for people’s stays in emergency accommodation to be as short as possible.
Each person staying at our Emergency Shelter is assigned a Key Worker. They will work together on thoroughly assessing the person’s needs, including health, housing, education, life skills, problem alcohol and drug use, support networks, disabilities, employment and personal history. They will then create a tailored care and exit plan to be implemented and regularly reviewed. This may involve a range of services and supports being brought to bear so that each person has the best possible chance of sustaining their own tenancy.
We use a care and case management approach with each person as they work through their care and exit plan, supporting them to overcome any barriers and challenges that may be identified.
Many people staying in our Emergency Shelter can be in poor mental and physical health. Drug and alcohol addiction can be an issue. Broken families, poor upbringings, early school leaving, dreadful life circumstances, long-term unemployment, can all be contributing factors to people’s homelessness.
People who are most vulnerable and excluded often experience a combination of some or all of these factors, usually referred to as complex needs.
Night Light emergency accommodation
We established our Night-time-only emergency beds during Winter 2017 in response to a growing need at the time for emergency accommodation here in Cork.
The need for beds is such that we have maintained the service ever since.
These additional 15 emergency beds consist of mattresses on the floor of our Day Service on Anderson’s Quay. While not ideal, Night Light offers people a better alternative to sleeping rough on the streets. Because our Day Service is in constant use throughout the day and early evening, these extra emergency spaces do not become available until 11.00pm each evening and we must remove them again at 7.30 the following morning.
Diversion
We recently established a new Diversion intervention aimed at delaying or preventing a person presenting as homeless from having to enter emergency accommodation at all.
A skilled support worker adopts a creative, problem-solving approach with each person presenting. They explore any potential safe and appropriate alternatives to emergency accommodation and work through any barriers that may be identified in accessing those alternatives.
A successful diversion away from emergency accommodation avoids the risks and traumas associated with stays in emergency accommodation and may avoid an experience of homelessness entirely for the person.
