29-04-2025
Cork Simon report shows near 'impossible' hopes of finding one or two-bedroom homes
Adults in emergency accommodation finding a one or two-bedroom houses would be like "finding dinosaur teeth", a new report from a Cork homeless service has claimed.
Cork Simon Community's Home Truths paper, published toda, claims there is a "significant undersupply" of relevant housing for the largest household category in the country.
The majority of adults in emergency accommodation in Cork and Kerry are single households, statistics from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Department of Housing show.
However, the report says that the majority of housing available is for three and four-bedroomed properties.
Cork Simon says there are twice as many one and two person households in Cork City as there are one-and-two bedroom homes.
It said there was "little sign" of the under-supply of one and two-bedroomed housing improving.
Sophie Johnston of Cork Simon said that the issue was particularly affecting those on the social housing lists.
"Over 60% of households on the social housing waiting list in Cork City are single households while over three-quarters of adults in homeless emergency accommodation here in the Southwest are single adults, most of whom need single unit housing to be able to leave homelessness," Ms Johnston said.
"Not only do we need more housing, we especially need more one and two-bed housing.'
Apartment units
The report noted that apartment construction is a good indicator of future supply, with 80% of apartments in Cork City being one or two-bedroomed units.
However, approved planning permissions for apartment units in Cork City fell by 61% in 2024, while less than one in four apartment units approved for planning in Cork City between 2018 and 2022 were completed by the end of 2024.
Latest CSO data shows new apartment completions in Cork City were down 10% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
Building commencement notices for apartment units also fell in Cork City in the first quarter of 2025 to their lowest quarterly number in five years.
John Foskett, a Cork Simon project worker, said: 'Finding one- and two-beds is like finding dinosaur teeth. There's nothing available on Daft. It's nonexistent."
He added that while service users were normally going with a view to renting through Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), they were not finding success.
"If I find somewhere available and we mention HAP, they don't get a call back.
"With the lack of one- and two-beds over the last 18 months, it's an impossible market for our lads to break into."
Barry, a Cork Simon service user, shared his experience for Home Truths, describing it as 'little-to-nothing'.
He said: "If there was a single, you'd see the amount of views on it. There's too many people looking for the one accommodation, [that] kind of thing.'
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