“We are at a critical moment as winter is coming”

• Dublin Simon Responds to July 2020 Dublin Homeless Figures
• Homelessness charity insists we cannot forget about those already in crisis before Covid-19

Dublin Simon Community has responded to the July 2020 Homelessness Report with a reminder that we cannot forget about those people whose tenancies and living situations were already in crisis pre Covid-19.

CEO of Dublin Simon Community, Sam McGuinness, said:

“For five months, Covid-19 emergency measures curbed the flow into homelessness, providing an opportunity to get the numbers down as we continued to move people out of emergency services and into new long-term accommodation coming from the Airbnb and short-term rental market.

“The slight rise in the July emergency accommodation numbers is a cause for concern.These figures represent the last full month before the emergency moratorium on evictions was replaced by the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act. The new legislation protects those whose income has been impacted by Covid-19, but we cannot forget those who were already in crisis, struggling before the pandemic hit.

“We are at a critical moment here. We must catch these people before they fall down the well of homelessness, because it is immensely difficult to climb back out. A winter like never before is coming and these people simply cannot be left out in the cold.”

According to the report:

•  6,205 people were recorded in emergency accommodation in Dublin during July 2020, a <1% increase from 6,152 in June 2020
• 4,188 total adults were recorded in emergency accommodation in Dublin during July 2020, a <1% increase from 4,173 in June 2020
• 2,919 single adults were recorded in emergency accommodation in Dublin during July 2020, a <1% increase from 2,897 in June 2020
• 862 families were recorded in emergency accommodation in Dublin during July 2020, a <1% decrease from 871 in June 2020
• 2,017 children were recorded in emergency accommodation in Dublin during July 2020, a 2% increase from 1,979 June 2020