A WOMAN HAS said she and her three children may have to sleep in her car if she doesn’t find alternative accommodation when they are evicted from a Direct Provision centre in Co Mayo.
Ada*, who is originally from a country in Africa, has three young children including a newborn. She has been living at the DP centre in Ballyhaunis for six years and is “devastated” she has to move.
She is one of a large number of people with international protection status who have been informed they need to move out of their accommodation in various parts of the country, as the Government struggles to house new applicants.
However, rising rental costs and a lack of housing supply have made it difficult for people to find alternative accommodation.
A report published by the ESRI earlier this month found that almost 6,000 people with IP status were struggling to leave International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) accommodation and move into mainstream housing.
Ipas falls under the remit of the Department of Integration.
The letter sent from the department to Ada and others in recent months states: “We do not have the capacity to continue to accommodate persons once they have received status to remain in Ireland.
“Owing to the urgent need we must now ask you to move to independent alternative accommodation in the community on Friday 5th July 2024.”
Ada was granted IP status in 2021, but been unsuccessful in her search to find new accommodation since then. She received the letter from the department in February, informing her that she and her children had to move out of the centre by next Friday.
Ada has gone on several viewings in recent months, but has not been offered anywhere to rent. She is entitled to rental support under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme, but said some landlords don’t want to accept HAP.
Speaking to The Journal, Ada said: “All I get now is viewings, replies to emails saying that I’ve not been successful. They don’t give the reasons as to why you are not successful.
But what I gather from all the viewings that I’ve gone on is that once you mention HAP, most of the landlords don’t want HAP.
Ada thought she had secured a house a few weeks ago but, ultimately, this also fell through.
“I was very hopeful that this time around I might get it. But the usual is, ‘oh, we are sorry, you are not successful’. That has been my story for the last three years.”
If she doesn’t find accommodation by next Friday, she will have nowhere else to go.
What will happen? I don’t know if I’ll be sleeping in the car with my children. I honestly don’t have any clue what to do.
“I just hope that the council can at least help us secure a place. They’re the only hope we have at this point.”
Ada said she recently contacted Mayo County Council to “remind them that I’ll be homeless in two weeks and to ask what the way forward is”.
“They told me Ipas said the council is under no obligation to provide us with emergency accommodation and that we should email Ipas if we need [somewhere to stay].
“I’m in a dilemma because Ipas doesn’t want to hear anything from us.”
When asked about Ada’s situation, a spokesperson for the Department of Integration said: “Where a person receives a grant of status or permission to remain, the Department no longer has a legal requirement to provide accommodation to them, as those with status have the same housing entitlements as Irish citizens.
Nonetheless, Ipas has continued to provide accommodation until residents are in a position to source accommodation independently.
The spokesperson said people with IP status or leave-to-remain status are written to and “advised they must seek alternative accommodation”.
“They are supported to register with a Local Authority and, if required, avail of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) to secure alternative accommodation.”
The Journal understands that every effort is being made by the department to avoid people becoming homeless.
The spokesperson told us that Ipas works with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to support people in securing alternative accommodation.
They said a specific transition team works in collaboration with local authorities, as well as homelessness charities such as Depaul Ireland and the Peter McVerry Trust, “to support residents with status to exit Ipas accommodation”.
Where a person cannot secure independent accommodation by the defined date, Ipas will provide temporary, emergency accommodation.
The spokesperson said the department is currently providing accommodation to over 31,000 people, of whom 5,700 have been granted permission to remain in Ireland.
“At the same time, there is currently a shortfall of accommodation for newly arrived IP applicants,” they added.
Mayo County Council had not replied to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Ada is entitled to €700 per month under the HAP scheme, but said most houses in the area cost over €1,200 per month to rent.
She was previously working as a healthcare assistant but had to give up her job late last year as her childminder moved away and she was unable to find other childcare due to the cost.
Ada said she would consider moving to another county but would prefer to stay in Mayo, ideally Ballyhaunis, as her two older children are in school in the town. They have built a life there, they have friends, and play GAA every weekend.
She said the situation is taking a huge toll on her mental health. One of her children has respiratory issues and, as well as losing their accommodation, Ada fears losing access to their GP.
My child is often sick. We are, on and off, in the hospital.
“So that’s really, really causing me stress. If I change their environment, I don’t know what will happen.”
Ada understands there is pressure on the Government to house new IP applicants, but said the solution cannot be to make people who have been granted permission to stay in Ireland homeless.
She called on the Government to liaise with local authorities “to find a strategic way of how to go about this crisis and help people with families to overcome this”.
An exemption to the 5 July deadline has been granted to people over the age of 65 and to those with significant medical or welfare needs.
ActionAid Ireland is supporting mothers faced with eviction in Mayo, Wicklow and Cork.
The NGO has called on the Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman to revoke the eviction letters as it could result in families becoming homeless next week.
ActionAid CEO Karol Balfe said she is aware of some cases of landlords “extorting people trying to leave Direct Provision frantically before the 5th of July because they know they are desperate”.
Balfe said it is “simply not acceptable to ask vulnerable women and children to be out of their accommodation”.
For years the families have tried to integrate into their communities through their schools and local sports clubs, and they are heartbroken at the prospect of facing another move to an unknown place.
Balfe added that these women “have already suffered huge trauma and have been uprooted from their homes and forced to flee to Ireland in the first place due to conflict or crisis”.
*Name changed for privacy reasons
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