Homeless man praises charities and government response to coronavirus

A homeless man tested for the coronavirus says the cooperation between charities and State agencies has been “unbelievable” in recent weeks.

Ray Halpin found homeless at the end of February. His landlord needed the house for his children, who were starting college, Mr Halpin told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show.

Having lived at the property for 18 years he took his case to the Residential Tenancies Board, but lost the case just after Christmas.

Mr Halpin said he holds no ill-will towards the landlord, who had given him six months notice.

“Once I was notified that the lease was being terminated I then had to find another place - and of course I couldn't in a city where the rent was crazy. So without affordable alternative accommodation, I had to seek the assistance of the homeless services.”

He began to display coronavirus symptoms last Tuesday, when he was transferred from a hostel in Dublin city to a near-by hotel, where he has remained in isolation.

“In a crowded place, it's very difficult to practice self-isolation if indeed you begin to experience symptoms of Covid-19. It's also difficult to observe the social distancing guidelines, for understandable reasons, if you're in a cramped accommodation.

It's simply impossible to observe the guidelines as thoroughly as you probably should.

But Mr Halpin has praise for the homeless services and the government, for their response to the crisis.

“I wouldn't pretend that the homeless situation is an easy one to resolve. But I have to say that over the past few weeks, the charities and homeless services in government departments have come together and opened lines of communications that have allowed mountains to be moved in two weeks.

“It didn't seem possible to move those mountains prior to that point. I would imagine that now that people are housed in Airbnb places, hostels and so forth I imagine they would be reluctant to move from those places once this was over.

“I think myself with the cooperative services in place at the moment, if we can maintain those lines of communication the problem that I experienced - and others experience - could be resolved more speedily in future.”

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