Parents with partial custody have no rooms for kids

Almost 900 separated parents living in council homes in Dublin do not have a spare bedroom to accommodate children over whom they have part-time custody because of the shortage of housing in the city.

Dublin City Council has admitted it cannot provide extra space to “access households” because of the pressure of tackling numbers living in emergency accommodation. It is estimated there are currently 895 “access households” in the city.

The council’s deputy chief executive, Brendan Kenny, said they had to have regard to the housing available to them and to secure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of such limited stock.

“Consideration must be given to children in overcrowding situations and families currently in emergency accommodation where children do not have any access to a separate bedroom,” said Mr Kenny.

He claimed the impact of providing additional bedroom space to the 895 tenants with part-time access or custody to their children would be significant.

The council said it would recommend listing separated parents with partial custody and access arrangements for one additional bedroom “if supply was not so constrained”.

Mr Kenny said that while there were households with children on the housing waiting list with greater needs, children of access households would be assessed by taking into account how their accommodation needs were being met by the other parent.

“Dublin City Council will assign multiple bedroom unit requirements to the parent with whom the children reside for the greater part and a one-bedroom requirement to the other parent,” he said.

One Family Ireland, an organisation representing one-parent families, said many parents were frequently unable to see their children due to living in shared accommodation or bedsits.

Karen Kiernan, chief executive of One Family Ireland, called for one-parent families living in emergency accommodation to be prioritised for council housing, despite the council’s proposal that homeless families will no longer get priority treatment on the housing waiting lists.

The council said the measure was designed to encourage shorter stays in emergency accommodation and to assist homeless families to rent independently in the private sector.

Ms Kiernan said 70% of homeless families in Dublin were one-parent families whose children were experiencing the highest levels of poverty in Ireland. “The provision of public housing in vast numbers is long overdue and investment is urgently required,” she said.

The council has also proposed raising the age for applicants for council housing set aside for older persons to 60 years from its current level of 55. The qualification age for older people with some disability, serious health issue or who are homeless is also being raised from 50 to 55.