Housing issues impacting child development

Children’s development is being “paused” while they experience substandard housing, overcrowded environments, and homelessness, according to a new report by a childhood early intervention programme based in Cork City.

The report states “hubs and hotel accommodation ... should never be considered suitable homes for a family with children”.

Moreover, workers with the programme find themselves sidetracked into helping stressed families with social housing applications, instead of delivering the service they were brought in to deliver — supporting the relationship between child and parent.

The bleak circumstances some families find themselves in and the challenges this poses to their children’s development are outlined in Born and Raised into Homelessness, Overcrowding and Substandard Housing, a report which reflects the experiences of families engaged with the Young Knocknaheeny (YK) Infant Mental Health Home Visiting Programme.

YK manager Katherine Harford said that the potential positive impact of their programme is being compromised because much of support workers’ time “is spent navigating, advocating, and liaising for families at inter-agency level in relation to housing, welfare, and health services”.

She said between January 2018 and January 2019, some 60 families engaged in the YK Home Visiting Programme, “and 29 (50%) of those (including 60 children) reported homelessness, overcrowding, sub-standard housing, or housing-related issues”.

She said:

Young Knocknaheeny is concerned that for many families, poor housing conditions undermine their children’s development, and also creates a barrier for other family and child services trying to intervene and support them

Case studies of families in the report outline the toxic stress levels parents are under while trying to keep a roof over their head.

In one case, a family was using high-interest loans to pay rent in private accommodation. The employed parent was on a zero-hours contract and lost their job due to a significant deterioration in mental health. The parent attempted suicide. The family became homeless.

With YK’s help, they accessed homelessness services and secured a place in a North Cork hotel. The parents commuted by car to Cork to bring their children to school and waited in the city until collection time, with no money for food. YK helped by offering them somewhere to wait, eat, and talk. One child expressed suicidal thoughts and reported being bullied out of school for homelessness.

In another case, a single mother of three was living in the attic of a maternal grandmother. Her brother, adult son, and teen daughter also shared the home. They had been on a housing waiting list for seven years. The engaged with the YK programme but quality relationship work was “very challenging, as concrete assistance had to take priority”.

The report makes a number of recommendations, including that the potential lifelong impact on children of homelessness, housing insecurity, and substandard housing be prioritised when developing and implementing housing policy nationally and locally.