Female and young use of homeless shelter soars
The charity’s 2010 annual report, which will be launched today by Minister of State with responsibility for Disability, Older People, Equality and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch also shows 16% of all service users in the city are long-term homeless, and that the Soup Run and Outreach Team met an average of 27 people each night.
In total, almost 800 people contacted Cork Simon in 2010 to access one of its services. One area which saw a rise was the number attending the Cork Simon emergency shelter — 484 in total, up 10% compared to the figure for 2009.
The number of women staying at the shelter soared by 46% in 2010, while the number of first time users rose by 22%.
The report also notes that up to a fifth of all people using Cork Simon projects and services were in the 18- to 26-year-old age group, their needs catered to by the charity’s Youth Homeless Drugs Prevention Project. Elsewhere, as many as 44 people stay every night at the Emergency Shelter, while another 44 people occupy five high-support houses every day.
Forty years on from its first soup run in the city, Cork Simon revealed that work on its three new high-support places in Boreenmanna Road are due to be completed and occupied by this summer.
The places are required due to the types of problems experienced by many people experiencing homeless, the charity said, with its own statistics showing that 16% of its clients are long term homeless.
Among the other achievements of Cork Simon last year noted in the report is the setting up of a new Employment, Training and Education Project that allows homeless people to access education, training, work experience and employment opportunities. A total of 58 certificates have been awarded already. Already 18 people have secured jobs.
Writing in the report, acting director Aaron O’Connell said 16% of residents in Cork Simon’s Emergency Shelter in 2010 were long-term homeless.
