Dublin Simon Community Responds to June 2022 Homeless Report

Dublin Simon Community has responded to the release of the June 2022 Homeless Report by the Department of Housing Local Government & Heritage showing a total of 7,532 people in Dublin using emergency accommodation in that period, an increase of 100 over the previous month.

Spokesperson for Dublin Simon, Caoimhe O’Connell, said: “It is beyond frustrating to see the number of people residing in emergency accommodation in Dublin climb upwards for yet another month. We have now broken a record we never wanted to reach, with the increase recorded in the June 2022 Homeless Report coming at a time when homeless services are beyond capacity, while housing applications are suffering extreme delays.

At present, it is taking on average five months for housing applications to be processed. That’s five months of waiting just to get on the waiting list, which can then take several years to yield a house, depending on your situation.

The recommended stay in emergency accommodation is six months. Research has shown that the longer people stay in emergency accommodation, the more their physical and mental health declines as they begin to lose hope for the future. When this happens, people are less likely to be able to live independently for the rest of their lives. If five out of the recommended six months is now being spent just waiting to join a years-long queue, what hope do these people have?

We are getting to the point where homelessness is becoming tantamount to a life sentence. Urgent intervention is required to mitigate the long-term impact on the lives of those currently in the system and those who are barely clinging on to their homes as the cost of living and housing crises continue to squeeze them out.”