Apollo House evacuees return amid claims of ‘unsuitable’ alternative facilities

Some former residents of Apollo House have returned to the building after claims of drug use at the alternative accommodation offered to them.

The Home Sweet Home Campaign said eight residents had returned since the deal brokered with Housing Minister Simon Coveney stating that the accommodation offered to them by Dublin City Council “completely unsuitable to their needs”.

“Drugs and alcohol were being used in the facilities offered, which represents a clear failure to meet the specific needs of those residents, and constitutes a failure to meet the terms of the agreement,” the group said in a statement.

The development placed further doubt on whether residents will vacate Apollo House before the deadline of 12pm today set by the High Court.

One former resident describing the alternative accommodation he had been offered said: “No keys, no food, no washing machine, no wardrobe, people getting drunk injecting and smoking heroin in rooms, not possible to sleep due to music and shouting till 4am, phones getting robbed, vomit in the hallways, needles everywhere, atmosphere on the verge of explosion of violence, gang threatening to stomp another resident. ”

Under a deal brokered with Mr Coveney, the group agreed to vacate the building following assurances that the 40 homeless residents would be given accommodation.

The Home Sweet Home group stated they had secured two new homeless hostels at the cost of over €4m as part of the deal and these hostels would allow residents to have their own keys, private rooms and facilities for couples.

However, Mr Coveney has since said that the two new hostels were already planned before the negotiations.

The group said that Mr Coveney’s comments raised “serious concerns as to the good faith of the agreements made at the negotiation table”. “It was agreed that two new buildings, additional to the ones announced by DCC on their website on November 30, 2016; were committed to by Coveney in the negotiations, and the minimum standards in Apollo House would be the new benchmark for these two new additional facilities.

“The Minister for Housing is downplaying the significant achievement reached by a citizen’s intervention in the worst housing crisis the State has ever seen. In doing so, the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in society are being ignored,” said a statement.

Home Sweet Home member Tommy Gavin said: “They are claiming that all these changes that have been enforced already existed, contrary to DCC and Peter McVerry Trust claiming otherwise. Is this what government negotiations and mutual agreements amount to?”

The Department of the Environment said their information is that the transition to new accommodation was proceeding as planned.