Home > Home Truths >
Home Truths: Single Homelessness in the Southwest
June, 2023
Nathan: Single fella is the worst.
Home Truths: Single Homelessness in the Southwest highlights the grim reality for single adults experiencing homelessness in Cork and Kerry.
The number of single adults in emergency accommodation here in the Southwest doubled in the eight years to March 2023. They now account for over three quarters of all adults in emergency accommodation.
Half of single homeless adults at the end of 2022 were long-term homeless – stuck in emergency accommodation for six months or more. Many were there for two years or more. The number of exits from homelessness among single adults was very low.
The outlook for homeless single adults is bleak with few prospects on the horizon of exiting homelessness. Over half of social housing applicants in Cork and Kerry are single adults and they represent the largest and fastest growing social housing category in the State.Yet, in Cork, one-bed housing accounts for less than 10% of Local Authority stock and less than 20% of private rental stock.
"You can’t get out of it. I don’t seem to see a way anyway. And it’s not for want of trying."
– Nathan.
Report author, Sophie Johnston summarises the main findings of Home Truths: Single Homelessness in the Southwest.
Fiona: The whole lot of my life is on hold.
- Over three quarters of adults in emergency accommodation in the Southwest present as single adults.
- The Southwest records one of the highest rates of single adult homelessness in the country.
- Half of single adults in emergency accommodation in the Southwest are long-term homeless.
- An average of just 5.4% of single adults exited emergency accommodation in the Southwest to tenancies each quarter in 2022.
- For every 18 single adults presenting in emergency accommodation in 2022, just one single adult left to a secure tenancy.
- Over 80% of single adults exiting emergency accommodation in the Southwest to tenancies did so to Approved Housing Bodies or the precarious
Private Rental Sector. - Over half of social housing applicants in the Southwest are single adults – they are the largest and fastest growing social housing category.
- One-bed housing accounts for less than 10% of Local Authority and less than 20% of Private Rental housing stock in Cork.
"The whole lot of my life is on hold. Sometimes I feel like giving up. I just want a home like, you know."
– Fiona.
Liam: Everyone needs their own place.
Single adult households are the fastest growing social housing category. Their percentage share grew by 1.5% in 2022
Over hald of social housing applicants in the Southwest are single adults.
"I've been homeless four years. I thought, yeah, I'll have a place in a year or so, tops. Four and a half years and I'm still here."
– Liam.
Tadgh: You’ve no real hope
One-bed homes account for less than one in five Private Rental housing and less than one in ten Local Authority housing in Cork.
Tadgh shares his experience of trying to find a Private Rental one-bed property so he can leave emergency accommodation…
Download Home Truths: Single Homelessness in the Southwest
Read Sophie’s Home Truths Blog
Cork Simon’s ‘Home Truths’ series aims to offer insights into different aspects and experiences of homelessness in the Southwest.
