THE DUBLIN SIMON Community has reported a 17% drop in the number of people it supported across its services last year, blaming the housing crisis for preventing people from moving out of homelessness.

The charity launched its 2022 annual report today, reporting that it supported a total of 5,476 people and families across all services, down from 6,602 the previous year. 

However, the charity reported that there were now 1,011 people living in permanent “forever” homes provided by them, an increase of almost 20% on the previous year.

The NGO – which part-funded by the State and part by voluntary donations – also said that 715 adults and children had homes in long-term independent housing provided by it, with 192 people living in medium and high support housing throughout the year.

A total 453 people stayed in Dublin Simon’s short-term emergency accommodation.

Commenting on the drop in the number of people supported by the charity this year, CEO Catherine Kenny said that while she was proud of what the staff had achieved “the limitations placed on the scope of our success cannot go unacknowledged”.

“As the pool of available rental properties continued to shrink throughout 2022 many of our clients joined the long queues to view potential rental properties alongside hundreds of others with whom they could not financially compete.

Too many people who are ready and waiting to exit homelessness are being stranded in homeless services because there are simply no properties available to allow them to live their lives independently and with dignity.

Kenny said that many of these people had overcome “extraordinary challenges” including trauma, addiction, broken homes and financial challenges.

“It is truly heart-breaking that they are unable to clear this final hurdle to rebuilding their lives,” she said.

The charity has made a number of pre-Budget submissions calling on the Government to utilise all capital funding to increase housing supply and to increase mental health funding and raise the social welfare rate.

Homeless figures continue to surpass record numbers month on month.

Latest figures show that there were 12,847 people accessing emergency accommodation in July.

Figures from the Department of Housing detail how there were 3,829 children and 9,018 adults in emergency accommodation last month.

The figures are an increase of 247 compared to June, where there were 12,600 people in emergency accommodation.