'Build' urges advocate for the homeless

An advocate for homeless people has said that the solution to the crisis is to “build”.

Sonya McMahon made the comments as the latest figures show that homelessness is on the rise in both Cavan and Monaghan. The co-founder of Help Our Homeless is appealing for land to build modular homes or locate converted shipping containers to temporarily house some of the families impacted.

In the Breffni county, 408 adults and children presented as homeless last year, compared to 315 in 2024 (up 29.5%), figures provided by Cavan County Council to this newspaper show. To date in 2026, 176 adults and children have presented as homeless to the local authority in Cavan.

In Monaghan, meanwhile, 353 adults and children were classified as homeless in 2025 - up 23% on the 287 people who presented in 2024.

Homelessness among families and children shows the fastest growth in Cavan, with 50 families recorded in 2023 rising to 77 in 2025 (up 44% in two years). These families included 160 children in Cavan - up over 55% from 103 counted in 2023.

Of the families classified as homeless in Monaghan last year, they included 120 children without a home.

Sixty-three households entered emergency accommodation in Cavan in 2025; while in Monaghan 54 adults and 17 children were provided with emergency accommodation in the same year.

There are tears in Sonya McMahon’s eyes as she speaks about the homelessness crisis she faces daily in Ireland. She believes these figures could be higher than what is reported, as some people do not present to the council.

The mum of three feeds around six hundred homeless people per week in Dublin city alongside her family and a team of around forty volunteers.

Some of the people she encounters are from Cavan and Monaghan.

Sonya and her daughters Katie and Courtney have become known as ‘the Cavan ladies’ among the people they help who are mostly rough sleepers.

They operate a food collection point three nights per week in the city and also have a seven-day outreach service where volunteers drive around at night and check on those in their care. Teams leave Finglas at around 6pm and travel all around inner and north Dublin city, to check on people in tents, and provide a hot meal and a sandwich for the following morning, a bottle of water, tea/ coffee, crisps and chocolate bars. They also hand out tents and sleeping bags to those who need them.

“Provided the donations come in,” Sonya adds.

They meet some people from Cavan and Monaghan during their shift, who have travelled to the capital in the hope of finding shelter there. The reality is: “They are worse off because there is absolutely nothing.

“The hostels are full, but at least they have hostels,” she says, however Sonya cautions hostels can be “very dangerous” places.

Build

Locally she believes the solution to homelessness is to “build”. She suggests modular homes, and said if she can get a piece of land, ideally donated, she would provide log cabins or modular homes.

“If you look at the amount of derelict buildings in Bailieborough here, Kingscourt, Virginia; anywhere the size of County Cavan from one end to the other, how many buildings, how many farms are derelict?” She believes these spaces could be used to house homeless people.

“Ideally if we could get a piece of land and even turn shipping containers into single homes.”

The mum of three got the idea after travelling to see a similar project by ‘Help Bristol’s Homeless’, which provided temporary accommodation to people experiencing homelessness by using converted shipping containers as homes.

“You let a homeless person move in, you try and rehabilitate them, you get them jobs and eventually they are able to stand on their own two feet.

“I’d love to do it, and I’d love Cavan to be the first county to have it.”

Closer to home, Sonya has received six calls from people who are homeless in Cavan since September last year. They rang looking for a place to stay, something Sonya cannot provide. A call that has stayed with her came in February of this year, when a young man rang looking for a safe and warm place to sleep in minus degree temperatures.

She rang Cavan County Council to see what could be done, and claims she was told there was no homeless hostel in Cavan, and that Cavan’s beds within the Simon Community Hostel in Dundalk were full. Calling on a Friday evening, she says the person told her to get the person to ring on Monday.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Katie, Sonya’s daughter and co-founder of the charity, explains.

“I’m twenty-two and there’s people my age and younger there on the streets. It makes me realise that I am very lucky, but it [homelessness] can happen anyone.”

They hand out food at stations set up at Dublin’s GPO, when Katie sees “an awful lot of students” and others of all ages and backgrounds.

There are nights when her mum comes home in tears after volunteering in the capital.

The family started the charity six years ago during the pandemic, when Sonya decided her Kingscourt flower shop, Little Buds, needed some new decor.

“The three of us headed off to Dublin but, while we were looking, we saw a huge queue of people.”

Both daughters went over to see what was happening, when they realised they were volunteers feeding homeless people.

They went to buy supplies, which the charity needed, and then decided to start their own charity.

That evening, Sonya put a post on Facebook, which read: ‘Make a sandwich and donate a bottle of water and we’ll feed the homeless.’

“We had thousands of sandwiches,” she recalls, describing how they receive 70 to 80 sandwiches during their collections now.

If she had known what she was getting herself into from the beginning, would Sonya still have started Help Our Homeless?

“No,” she responds.

“It’s too heartbreaking,” she reasons, while Katie adds “especially without the support”.

“But I’d never leave it,” Sonya continues.

Assessment

A spokesperson from Cavan County Council said when a person presents as homeless, a homelessness assessment is carried out, to identify the “most appropriate supports”.

They said this assessment is “where possible carried out on the same day as the homeless presentation”.

“Where a household qualifies for social housing, the council works to ensure access to long term housing solutions as quickly as possible.”

In terms of emergency accommodation, where all options have been exhausted, the spokesperson said temporary emergency accommodation is provided “primarily through local B&B providers for families and vulnerable individuals”.

In addition, there are two supported homeless hostel beds in Dundalk run by Dublin Simon for Cavan, and one bed for Monaghan, which provide accommodation for single households only (male and female) with more complex needs, including addiction support requirements.

The council stated there are “no current plans” to develop a standalone homeless shelter/hostel in County Cavan, neither are there any such plans in County Monaghan.

“Existing services and arrangements are considered appropriate and effective,” the Cavan spokesperson stated.