Simon Community says homelessness falling but singles being left behind

Dublin Simon Community says the alarming rise in numbers of single people entering homelessness is being overshadowed by an overall reduction in homelessness figures.

This comes as the December 2020 Homeless Report was released today by the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage.

According to the report, 6,022 people were recorded in Dublin emergency accommodation in December 2020.

This represents an 11.7% decrease on December 2019, which Dublin Simon welcomed and attributed to the strong collaboration between local authorities, agencies, and NGO partners over the last 12 months.

However, single homelessness has risen by 17% over the same period.

Figure 1 compares the total number of people in Dublin emergency accommodation with the number of single adults for the period December 2019 – December 2020.

Reflecting on the past year, Dublin Simon Community CEO Sam McGuinness said: “On the face of it, we are in a better position now than we were a year ago.

“The numbers are going down, which is a huge achievement considering the tremendous adversity the sector has faced over the past year.”

“The story of 2020 can be understood in three parts,” he said.

“Family homelessness has reduced, rough sleeping has reduced but single homelessness remains frustratingly high.

“The bottom line remains that there are still more single people presenting as newly homeless each day than there are moving out of the bulging emergency system and into long-term accommodation.

“This has to change, and we must make it our urgent priority for 2021.”