Female and young use of homeless shelter soars

ALMOST one in five people using Cork Simon Homeless services last year were aged between 18 and 26, while there has also been a surge in the numbers of women staying in the charity’s emergency shelter.

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.