Annual Report 2004

Ending Homelessness is the Simon Communities primary goal. Much progress has been made towards meeting this goal in terms of partnership working between the statutory and voluntary agencies in recent years. Rough sleeping, particularly in the major urban centres has been substantially reduced. Government spending on homelessness is at unprecedented levels, with the Department of the Environment alone spending approx €1m per week. However, in spite of this progress official statistics indicate that at least 5,500 people are currently experiencing homelessness in Ireland.