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Threshold worked with over 12,000 households deemed at risk of homelessness last year

The housing charity supported more than 12,000 households last year, a 12% increase on the previous year.

STAFF AT HOUSING charity Threshold worked with more than 12,000 households last year which were deemed to be at risk of homelessness, an increase of 12% on 2021 figures.

Threshold provides free, independent and confidential advice and support to tenants in the private rented sector.

The housing charity today launched its Annual Report for 2022 which outlined that the housing charity assisted over 18,600 households last year.

These households comprised 39,108 adults and 14,548 children.

Around 14,500 of these cases were households that opened a new case during the course of the year and of these, close to 11,000 were seeking Threshold’s assistance for the first time.

Last year, Threshold worked on 12,031 cases where the household was at risk of homelessness.

This was a 12% increase on 2021 figures, when 10,729 households Threshold worked with were deemed to be at risk of homelessness.

Last year, close to 6,000 at-risk cases were closed and 4,321 households – comprising 5,883 adults and 3,905 children – were prevented from entering homelessness.

However, 455 households that Threshold worked with last year entered homelessness services and 259 were forced to stay with friends or family when their tenancy could not be protected and alternative housing could not be secured.

This was a considerable increase on the year previous.

In 2021, 209 households that Threshold worked with entered homelessness services and 72 were forced to stay with friends or family.

Threshold said this “points to the significant decline in the availability of homes to rent and the lack of alternative housing options for people”.

The Annual Report also notes that a growing number of people are getting in touch electronically, via email, webchat and video consultations.

Although last year saw the return of face-to-face consultations after the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the number of online video consultations at 197.

Meanwhile, Threshold advisors answered 47,161 calls last year, responded to 9,454 webchat queries (an average of 38 a day), and 6,838 people made initial contact by email.

Threshold also provided a Christmas On Call service last year between 24-31 December and answered 116 calls during this period.

Tenancy terminations, which Threshold said are usually due to landlords selling their property, was the main issue facing private renters who Threshold assisted last year.

Threshold’s report states that over 70% of those who entered homelessness last year had received a Notice of Termination from their landlord.

Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty said that the “significant decline in the availability of homes to rent and the lack of alternative housing options for people has made the work of stopping homelessness increasingly difficult”.

While he acknowledged government efforts to address the issue, he warned that “demand continues to outstrip supply and the ongoing crisis is not showing any real signs of abating”.

He added: “Rents remain stubbornly high – and continue to rise in some areas – while the number of landlords selling and exiting the market remains a major problem.

“We welcome the State initiatives being undertaken to tackle the myriad of factors driving the ongoing crisis, and hope these can be expanded so the situation can improve.”

Commenting on the launch of the report, Threshold chair Liam Reid said the charity is “committed to investing further in our services by hiring additional people, growing our income, and evolving our structures”.

He added: “These measures are aimed at ensuring we can keep more renters in their homes, advise more people, and increase our advocacy on behalf of people in the private rental sector.”

Threshold also thanked its donors and supporters for their financial assistance.

Just over a third of its income last year came from donations, legacies, and trusts at around €1.44 million, while close to two thirds (€2.73 million) came from charitable activities.

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    Mute Rebecca O'Brien
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:34 PM

    there had been no instances of this flaw being used – but thanks to the journal you have provided more with a step by step directions on how to hack into phones… Cheers

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    Mute Cian Geoghegan
    Favourite Cian Geoghegan
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:41 PM

    To be far someone I doubt someone with the knowledge to use such a backdoor for malicious purposes is going to have found out about a backdoor via of the journal.

    70
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    Mute Alan White
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:42 PM

    Publicity means the issue will be sorted quicker. The reason there’s no instances reported may be because people were unaware they were being hacked. Now they can be vigilant. Hackers already know this flaw if it’s made it to mainstream media, trust me.

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    Mute Cian Geoghegan
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:43 PM

    And to be fair about the start of that comment it’s Monday.

    13
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    Mute Conor Power
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:37 PM

    Don’t know anyone who would use hangouts for SMS its a wreck head for this.

    112
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    Mute Enda Cusack
    Favourite Enda Cusack
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:33 PM

    This vulnerability has been known for a while now

    81
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    Mute Emma Murphy
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:53 PM

    That’s what you get for choosing android over apple.

    39
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    Mute Mark Malone
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    Jul 27th 2015, 7:22 PM

    I’m still uncertain as to whether or not Emma is a troll or a simpleton.

    I’m leaning towards troll.

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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Jul 27th 2015, 7:31 PM

    Watch out for the hipster Android fanboys Emma!

    18
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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Jul 27th 2015, 7:33 PM

    Lean away Mark,
    No system is going to be 100% secure, but some are better than others. You cannot fix stupid.
    Sent from my iPhone.

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    Mute Brendan McGill
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    Jul 27th 2015, 8:09 PM

    What if Hangouts isn’t your default sms app?

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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Jul 28th 2015, 5:23 PM

    If I’m not mistaken Apple have a few flaws as well.

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    Mute ULTRON
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    Jul 28th 2015, 7:02 PM

    Than you’re most likely safe. The title should say ‘Google Hangouts has a serious flaw that could allow hackers in with one text’.

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    Mute ULTRON
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    Jul 28th 2015, 7:18 PM

    That you are safe, as the exploit only affects Hangouts so the article title is a bit misleading

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    Mute Kane Abel
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    Jul 27th 2015, 7:21 PM

    Oooh, what does this text say then? I am being the King of Nigeria, please give me unrestricted root access to your phone?

    21
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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:58 PM

    Why am I not surprised? When are people going to wake up to the Android scam and switch to the safety of the iPhone.

    18
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    Mute John R
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    Jul 28th 2015, 8:16 AM

    Sean bluntly that’s a silly comment. Nothing is 100% secure so your advice is use whatever phone you want ? Some phones are more secure than others. iPhones are more secure than Androids. Partly this is basic design. Android was originally designed as an open system. But mainly it is because a large proportion of Android users do not update to the latest more secure software version. There are numerous reasons for this but essentially the Android market is fragmented among many different phone manufacturers. Apple on the other hand is a single monolith. Finally Google owns the Android system which is designed to facilitate the mining of your data so that advertising can be sold. That is how Google make their money. Apple on the other hand make their money from their hardware.apple is safer but as many people don’t like it they use other systems. Fair enough. Everything is a trade off.

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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:37 PM

    I have the Messages app that was on my SGS5 when I got it. I use Text Secure as my default app. Can I delete Hangouts as I never use it? Tia, Quinton.

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    Mute Conor Power
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:38 PM

    You should be able to delete hangouts but you are not at risk if it is not your default SMS app

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Jul 27th 2015, 6:48 PM

    No, you can’t delete Hangouts (well, it may be possible by rooting the phone). However, you can disable it by going to Settings->Apps->Hangouts and then selecting Disable

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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Jul 28th 2015, 5:23 PM

    Thanks for that, both of you!

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