Young couple who were homeless reveal how Apollo brought light to our lives
This time last year, Cheryl and Mark Seenan were residents in Apollo House. Twelve months on, they are married, studying, and living in their own home.
“Only for Apollo House none of this would have
happened. I never thought I would be here — our life has changed dramatically because of Apollo,” says Mark.
Cheryl, 25, and Mark, 26, have been together for more than seven years, during which time they experienced homelessness.
“We were homeless seven years on and off,” says Mark. “We would sleep in hostels and have to be separated. Then, three or four nights
a week we would call the freephone for a bed and there wouldn’t be one so we’d sleep rough. That can quite tough. Then we heard about Apollo House and went up and talked to them and they let us in.
“Going into Apollo House made Christmas amazing.”
On December 15, the Home Sweet Home group, comprised of the Irish Housing Network and some artists and trade unionists began an occupation of Apollo House in Dublin’s city centre which lasted until January 12.
The group assisted a total of 205 people during this period, most of whom shared Christmas dinner together in the disused office building.
It was on this day, buoyed by a renewed sense of hope, that Mark decided to finally propose to Cheryl.
“Because we were given that bit of hope, hearing that people cared, that we weren’t just a number - that put us in a good position to do it, to get engaged,” he says.
“So, with 200 people watching and in the middle of Christmas dinner I got down on one knee and asked Cheryl to marry me. She was shocked, they were all shocked, but she said ‘yes’.”
From there, the couple was moved into supported temporary accommodation operated by the Peter McVerry Trust (PMcVT) and planned their wedding.
“On July 1, we had a church wedding on Sean McDermott Street and then we had a reception in the Teachers’ Club, with 50 or 60 of our friends and family. It was amazing. It was an amazing day. It was something we thought would never happen,” says Mark.
Then, two weeks before the wedding, they got keys to their one-bedroom apartment, also run by the trust.
Mark says the couple’s life is almost unrecognisable compared with their years on the streets, caused mainly by rental hikes.
“Being hungry and cold and having nowhere to go and having a sense of being left aside, feeling that you’re more of a problem in society than a contributor to it, is very, very hard,” he says.
“After a while, we just said we weren’t going back in hostels because Cheryl was assaulted twice and because of the risk of being separated. It was no place to be.
“You get so used to walking around the streets and depending on the Government. Now we can depend on ourselves and spend Christmas together.”
Renting had also been
difficult for them because
of some landlords’ attitudes to the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), as well as the high cost of renting.
Mark says: “It was really degrading. The landlord would have Cheryl crying at the door saying: ‘The Government is paying your rent. You’re not.’
“We viewed probably 70 or 80 properties over the seven years and only got accepted for two.
“I’ve always worked when I had the chance to, I worked up to management level in McDonald’s. Then we ended up homeless because of rent hikes we couldn’t afford and we had to choose between feeding ourselves and paying the rent. The price of rent is the main problem with homelessness.”
However, this Christmas with the certainty of shelter, 2018 looks like it will be an even better year for the couple.
“Now we have the tree up and I painted the whole place,” says Mark. “I’m doing social care level five and Cheryl wants to study veterinary assistance in the New Year.
“I got a van recently, I saved up and coming up to Christmas I’ve just been helping out as much as I can with soup runs.
“We’re hoping this time next year we’ll have a kid — children really make Christmas. We’ve started a GoFundMe page for the IVF.”
Their plans for the future do not stop there, Mark wants to eventually run his own business so that he can tell his ‘look where we came from’ story.
For now, they continue to volunteer with the Irish Housing Network and speak out as much as possible on behalf of people who are where they were last year.
“Every time there is a homeless story in the papers it’s like Leo Varadkar downplays it, but just look at the number of people who have died on the streets or the young girl who took her own life,” says Mark. “I can’t
imagine how she must have been feeling with two kids.
“I want to speak up for homeless people now to show that we aren’t just a statistic we’re a human being.
“The one bit of hope combined with someone believing in you changes everything.”
While Apollo House might have improved the lives of Cheryl and Mark, the Irish Housing Network is not planning any more similar occupations in the future.
“What Apollo House did was bring housing and homelessness to the public’s attention but the reason we didn’t plan another big action is because we are on the ground doing work with people in emergency accommodation and helping people stay in their homes,” says Freda Hughes from the network.
“The stunts have happened, the deaths have happened, the children [in emergency accommodation] has happened, but now there is no more time left for stunts, deaths or any more children to enter the system because what we really need is action.
“We need the Government to do its job.”
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