200 families helped by homeless charity
“2023 was another successful year us in both the city and county helping in making a real difference in people’s lives.”
Those were the words of Aisling O’Connor, Focus Ireland Cork Manager, as the charity revealed it helped 200 families who were homeless or at risk of being homeless in Cork last year.
Aisling O’Connor said: “We launched 16 new homes in the heart of Cork city on the Grand Parade and also continued our Housing First Partnership with Cork Simon. During 2023, 14 new supported long-term tenancies were offered and five new Housing First tenancies were created. Presently in the city there are 34 active tenancies in place and 6 people linked in with outreach and waiting to move into a tenancy. In Cork county we currently have 18 active tenancies with three customers being linked in with in an outreach capacity.”
She added: “Our Housing First support staff in Cork works with people who have experienced long-term homelessness and who have complex support needs. It offers people a tenancy with the wraparound health supports and connections to community supports that are needed to ensure that people maintain their housing and improve their overall health and well-being.”
Nationally, the charity had a 12.5% rise in the number of people it supported in 2023 (18,000 people) compared to 2022 (16,000). The report showed Focus Ireland helped 1,757 households to either keep their home (657 households) or support their exit from homelessness (1,100 households), an increase of nearly 10% on the previous year (1,598).
The figures were included in Focus Ireland’s 2023 Annual Report which was launched on Tuesday. These figures were revealed shortly after the Department of Housing showed there are currently 553 adults homeless in Cork and 95 families homeless in the southwest area for July 2024.
Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said: “I believe that it is vital to continue to emphasise that homelessness is not inevitable. It is possible to end homelessness with the right policies in place. To this end, Focus Ireland remained committed to its overall objective of ending homelessness in Ireland through prevention and sustained exits.
“We worked to support the most vulnerable families in 2023, and the Family Centre, Family Homeless Action Team and other family services proved highly effective in supporting 486 families with children out of homelessness.”