Number of homeless fell 33%
DUNDALK Simon Community has responded to the May 2020 ‘omelessness report’ with a direct challenge to the next Government to ‘ tackle the underlying issues driving the homelessness crisis.’
CEO of Dublin Simon Community, Sam McGuinness said: ‘While we welcome the reduction in figures there can be no going back to the circumstances that have driven the current homelessness crisis, and no going back to overcrowded emergency accommodation.’
According to the May report, there were 143 people who accessed emergency accommodation in the North East in May 2020 a 33% decrease from May 2019, when 212 people had been recorded.
The figures also showed that 98 single people had accessed emergency accommodation in May 2020, a 37% decrease from 156 in May 2019.
The Simon Community have highlighted how the fall in numbers has occurred during what have been unprecedented times.
The Covid-19 restrictions led to a temporary halt in movement in the rental and housing sales markets. But, in some emergency cases, housing units were made available for those in need.
The Simon CEO appealed for a positive strategy towards the issue of homelessness, post Covid-19.
‘ There can be no going back to using hotels to shelter families, and no going back to indiscriminate evictions.’
He called for an end to shortages of one-bedroom accommodation, and and end to ‘ transitional housing and shortterm leases.’
He added: “We need to see a creative and proactive approach from the next Government that will turn the housing crisis around and make homelessness an exception rather than the norm. Otherwise the coming economic storm will deliver a crisis of unimaginable proportions on our streets and create a generation of interrupted lives.’
‘We urgently need to take the lessons learned over the past few months on board and build on the success of our partnerships with other NGOs and Government bodies in delivering permanent housing solutions to the most vulnerable in society.’
DUNDALK based Digital Forensics and Cyber Security firm, VMGroup have made the top ten list in Europe by being recognised as one of the Top Ten Digital Forensics Firms in Europe.
Established in 2014 by Dundalk native, Dr Vivienne Mee, the company has grown over the last 6 years, now with offices in Dublin, Dundalk and Newry.
VMGroup offer digital forensic services to their clients all over Ireland, providing expert witness testimony in legal cases. VMGroup have been involved in many high profiled cases whereby their expertise in digital forensics were called upon.
In addition, where clients may be victims of security breaches or outside attack from hackers, VMGroup assist their clients in handling the breach, and determining if any data has been lost during the incident.
Organically the firm also provides Cyber security services in which VMGroup provides consulting services to their clients to ensure they are in a position to safeguard their infrastructure and data against cyber threats.
VMGroup, CEO Dr Vivienne Mee said ‘I would like to thank the team for the continued support over the years. For the road ahead, the company is set to venture into research and development. VMGroup aims to develop forensic tools for law enforcement and forensic experts to aid forensic laboratories and IT Teams accelerate the technical analysis in any investigation or cyber security breach.’