32 vacant homes to every homeless adult in Cork

Over 17,000 homes across Cork city and county, excluding holiday homes, were recorded as vacant in Census 2022; that is 32 vacant homes to every adult in homeless emergency accommodation in Cork.

This is according to a new report Home Truths published by Cork Simon this week. Analysing CSO Census 2022 data, the paper explores vacancy rates across Cork.

The number of long-term vacant homes was also established by comparing data with Census 2016 and 2011. Almost 5,000 homes were found to be long-term vacant across Cork city and county. “That’s equivalent to all homes in Midleton being vacant. It’s also equivalent to 9 long-term vacant homes across Cork to every adult in homeless emergency accommodation in Cork,” stated the report.

Sophie Johnston from Cork Simon, the author of Home Truths, expressed her concern about the substantial number of long-term vacant homes amidst the ongoing homelessness crisis. “One in every three vacant homes in Cork city and county has been vacant for at least seven years. That’s equal to nine long-term vacant homes for every adult in emergency accommodation in Cork.”

Looking at the potential however, Sophie added: “The long-term vacancy count gives an indication of the number of vacant homes that could potentially be brought back into use rather than possibly progressing to dereliction and beyond use.”

Of the more than 17,000 vacant homes in Cork city and county on census night 2022, almost 3,000 are vacant rental properties. Almost 650 of these were also vacant on census night 2016.

“This is of real concern,” Sophie said. “Single households are the majority in emergency accommodation. They depend on the private rented market for a speedy exit from homelessness. But low private rented supply and high rents mean they’re virtually locked out of that market, forced to remain stuck in emergency accommodation long-term.”

The report notes a discrepancy between the 2,954 vacant rental properties recorded in Cork city and county on census night 2022, and the number of homes available to rent on Daft.ie around the same time. Just 211 homes to rent in Munster were listed on the popular property website on 1 February 2022.

“There’s no clear reason for such a discrepancy,” she said. “It may be that short-term lets make-up a significant portion of these vacant rental properties. What is clear is that we need better insights into why there are such high numbers of vacant rental properties. It would allow for targeted incentives to get them back into use as part of the solution to the homelessness crisis.”

‘Lisa’ who is currently using homeless services, expressed her frustration at the number of vacant properties in Cork. “It’s annoying when you’ve spent nights on the streets and you see these (vacant) houses. You might have only got an hour, an hour and a half’s sleep and then you’re walking back down the road, and you’re looking at all these places. When you’re homeless you do walk a lot and we do see they’re scattered all over the place,” she said.