What is homelessness?
Simon believes that any person who sleeps rough, lives in emergency accommodation or in inadequate, insecure or unsafe housing is experiencing homelessness.
Rough sleeping is the visible and extreme side of homelessness. This is what most of the public think of when they hear the word 'homeless'. There are thousands of individuals and families who are homeless and living in emergency accommodation.
Being homeless is more than about being without a roof over your head it's about a lack of security, lack of belonging, lack of privacy and lack of safety. The experience of homelessness is arguably one of the grossest violations of human rights in developed economies like Ireland.
Homelessness is not, and should never be accepted as, an inevitable outcome for any person.
We believe that homelessness in Ireland can be ended. By an end to homelessness we mean no one will have to sleep rough because of a lack of appropriate services, no one will have to live in emergency accommodation for longer than is an emergency, and no one will become homeless due to a lack of services or inadequate housing provision.
For more info on ending homelessness see: www.makeroom.ie/policy/