While many of us are thinking about who we’ll vote for on polling day on Friday, 13 separate cases including families and children have far graver considerations. On Friday, they will be made homeless from the accommodation on Mountjoy Street, Dublin.*
Living in this accommodation is families with children, single women and couples.
However, a dispute with a landlord has been ongoing for several months and is irresolvable.
Last week, Aisling Kenny appeared on Newstalk’s ‘Humans of The Election’ with her family, her partner and three children. The following day after they were featured, they were told they are one of the 13 families who will be made homeless.
Yesterday, Newstalk.com spoke to Aisling about what has happened to her family:
Aisling Kenny and her family are one of thirteen families being evicted from their emergency accommodation this Friday - polling day.
Posted by Newstalk 106-108 fm on Monday, 22 February 2016
Our reporter, Shona Murray, has been talking to some of the other families and getting their reaction to what will happen on Friday.
She spoke to Vivienne, who’s 28 and has been homeless since she was 15. Her parents’ were drug addicts and alcoholics. She has an eight-month-old baby who lives with a foster family but she is getting regular access to see her child now.
Dublin City Council would not confirm or deny if they were sending Vivienne to a wet house where drinking takes place.
Shona also spoke to 24-year-old mother of two, Sarah, who was told she could be going to the Regency hotel where she says she doesn’t feel safe:
And finally, she spoke to Gemma, a 22-year-old mother of one.
Dublin City Council released a statement on the issue:
What is important to note is that if there is a change in the provision of emergency accommodation for families, the local authority assessment and placement service (in this case the Central Placement Service, Dublin City Council) work with the families to provide alternative accommodation.
There are three forms of accommodation provided by the local authority, these include:
- Temporary Emergency Accommodation (TEA): providing accommodation for persons with low support needs.
- Supported Temporary Accommodation (STA): providing accommodation with specialist on-site and in-reach support services to bring a person to a point where they are ready to live independently.
- Private Emergency Accommodation (PEA): this includes the use of apartments/ housing/ b&b’s sourced by Dublin City Council through the private housing market to ensure a basic response to an emergency presenting need).
*The accommodation in Mountjoy Street is a PEA and is specifically provided by a private landlord who is not in a capacity to discuss the commercial aspects of this.
You can listen to Shona's report below:
