'Looking for the impossible': Cork Simon report shows lack of smaller housing units leaving single people stuck in emergency accommodation

People are getting 'stuck' in emergency accommodation due to a shortage of one and two-bed housing units in Cork city, as latest data shows the amount of apartments granted permission is at its lowest level in seven years.

Cork Simon Community’s fifth 'Home Truths' report, looks at the need for smaller housing units, as over three-quarters of adults in homeless emergency accommodation in Cork and Kerry are single adults, many of whom need single unit housing to be able to exit homelessness.

Barry, a Cork Simon service who was quoted in the report said: “It’s kind of hard to find something that’s just single. I do be seeing kind of like three and four bedroom up. But they’re all well over two grand each. It’s a little to nothing for single people really.

“And if there was a single, you’d see the amount of views on it. So it kind of puts you off going for it even, you know. And then when you don’t get a reply, that’s kind of why. Because there’s too many people looking for the one bed accommodation.” 

Cork Simon’s Sophie Johnston, who compiled the report, said that it is not just people in emergency services looking for one and two bed homes, but the shortage is “particularly acute issue among the most disadvantaged”.

“One and two person households are the largest household category, and it’s predicted to grow, but at the moment there’s a significant mismatch. While one and two person households are the dominant household type, the majority of our housing is three and four-bed houses," she told The Echo. 

The Cork City Development Plan (2022-2028) has forecast growth of over 16,000 households in Cork city during its lifetime, with 54.5% of this growth to be among one and two person households.

Ms Johnston said that Cork city already has more than twice as many one and two person households as there are one and two bedroom homes.

The report shows there are 45,906 one and two-person households and just 20,241 one and two-person homes.

This is reflected across Ireland, which has the third highest level of ‘under-occupied’ homes in the EU, at 66% compared to the EU average of 33%.  

Ms Johnston said the lack of smaller houses means “there’s no room for movement”.

As well as one and two person households occupying larger homes, 60% of households on the social housing waiting list in Cork city are single households, as well as 77% of those in emergency accommodation.

Single people are also less likely than families to secure housing as a preventative measure to entering emergency accommodation (6% vs 24%,  and to exit emergency accommodation to a housing tenancy (6% vs 29%).

Ms Johnston said that when talking to people for the report, "the word impossible came up a number of times." "There’s a sense of despondency among people who are searching and searching,  but the housing just isn’t there.

“People search far and wide and then don’t get a reply, can’t get a viewing – it’s very disheartening, their lives are effectively on hold," she said.

“We know the longer someone spends in emergency accommodation it takes a really big toll on their physical and mental health, their wellbeing, and it can lead to a whole other set of problems.” 

Trevor, a Cork Simon service , said that the type of housing he needs to leave emergency accommodation is “just not there”, explaining he has alerts on for all the housing websites on his phone.

“But the alerts don’t come. They just don’t because, you know, I’m looking for the impossible. I’m getting nothing.

“I don’t need off-street parking. Just, you know, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a bed. That’s it. Some place to wash, some place to sleep, somewhere to cook something. But there’s nothing there.” 

The report identifies apartment construction as a good indicator of future one and two bedroom housing supply, finding that, based on Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, 80% of apartments in Cork city are one and two bedroom units.

Approved planning permissions for apartment units in Cork city fell by 61% in 2024, and less than one in four apartment units approved for planning in the city between 2018 and 2022 were completed by the end of last year. “So as low at the numbers are for approved planning permissions, only a small portion of those will come to be, if previous patterns continue,” Ms Johnston said.

Latest CSO data also shows that in Cork city, new apartment completions were down 10% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year. Building commencement notices for apartment units also fell to their lowest quarterly number in five years.

Adam, another Cork Simon service said he was having no luck in his searching.

“It’s absolutely brutal... the lack of one-bedroom, two-bedrooms. There was a house that went up today, yeah and 100 people viewing it. What do you have to do to get the house? I give up. The dog box would do at this stage.” 

John Foskett, Cork Simon project worker, said that finding one and two beds “is like finding dinosaur teeth."

 “There’s nothing available on Daft. It’s non-existent. Our service s are going with a view to renting through HAP. If I find somewhere available and we mention HAP, they don’t get a call back. Even with super HAP, which adds 30% on top of the original HAP, as soon as landlords hear HAP they don’t want anything to do with them," said Mr Foskett.

“And then there’s high competition. They’re up against people who have 12 months of pay slips and the likes. We’re having to look further and further, 30 or 40 minutes outside the city. But that can have a detrimental effect as it’s pushing people away from their GP and services.

“With the lack of one and two beds over the last 18 months, it’s an impossible market for our lads to break into. Even though many of them would be perfect tenants," he added.

“Years ago you couldn’t break into the home ownership market, now you can’t break into the rental market. It’s an impossible game. Until there’s rent caps and a lot more houses built, I can’t see anything changing.”

Ms Johnston said the housing commission report last year highlighted the need for more one and two bed units, and she hopes that the government take this recommendation into , as constructing more of these smaller units are the only solution to the problem.

“With the Housing for All plan currently being reviewed by government, we think that the Housing Commission’s recommendations, in general and in particular in of one and two beds, need to be looked at. The government needs to be focused on delivering these units.” 

In the meantime, people like Liam, another Cork Simon service quoted in the report, are “searching all the time” for a one-bed so that he can leave emergency accommodation, but there “just seems to be zero places”.