Report highlights how vulnerable suffer in growing housing divide 

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal said he was 'quite shocked' at the situation faced, in particular, by single or lone-parent households who, he said, seem 'particularly disadvantaged on nearly all housing rights dimensions assessed by this report'.

A damning new report on the growing divide in access to housing has highlighted how the most vulnerable sections of society are often either in overcrowded, inadequate housing – or in emergency accommodation.

The report, compiled jointly by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Economic and Social Research Institute, shows lone parents, people with a disability, and migrants are among groups consistently disadvantaged in our housing system – and at least one support organisation says it does not believe the Government's Housing for All plan will fix it.

Entitled 'Monitoring Adequate Housing in Ireland', the joint report shows that average rent has increased substantially, and at a faster rate than average earnings, putting homes out of reach of vulnerable groups.

Among the data the report draws on is that: 

• Lone parents have higher rates of affordability issues (19%) when compared to the general population (5%) and are particularly vulnerable to housing quality problems such as damp and lack of central heating (32% compared to 22% of total population).
• Ethnic minority groups have a significantly higher risk of living in overcrowded conditions.  More than 35% of Asian/Asian Irish, 39% of Travellers and over 40% of Black/Black Irish live in overcrowded accommodation, compared to 6% of the total population.
• 29% of those living with a disability experience housing quality issues, when compared to those without a disability (21%). People with a disability are also more likely to report an inability to keep their home warm and get into arrears on rent or mortgage payments.

The publication has prompted UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal to question whether the Government is doing enough to house to marginalised communities here.

He said he was "quite shocked" at the situation faced, in particular, by single or lone-parent households who, he said, seem "particularly disadvantaged on nearly all housing rights dimensions assessed by this report".

He called on the Irish government to "act now". 

"Single parents and their children account for 53% of all homeless families, and are much more likely to experience poor housing than other households and they face nearly four times as frequently compared to the general population affordability problems," he said.

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"They are the most impoverished and face more significantly, more often, arrears in paying for their housing costs, [and] are among those with lowest security of tenure and highest risk of eviction.

This raises a fundamental question: How are we actually treating as a society single parents and their children?"

That view was echoed by Karen Kiernan, chief executive of One Family, who said the report "confirms a lot of what we hear from parents and children. It makes grim reading."

'Addresses are a hotel number'

"Many of the people who come to us, their addresses are a hotel number."

Ms Kiernan said she does not believe the Government's Housing for All plan, launched last week, will fully address the problem, primarily because a call for it to include a family housing strategy to specifically deal with families had not been heeded.

"It's a massive issue for one-parent families, so we were disappointed to see that was not in there," she said.

The joint report also highlights information gaps in the Irish housing system, such as housing insecurity arising from limited tenancy length or a landlord’s decision to sell or renovate.

It also says ethnic minorities such as Travellers, and the Black ethnic group face higher discrimination in their search for accommodation and are at much higher risk of overcrowding and homelessness. 

Martin Collins, co-director of Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre, said the dire living conditions that some Irish Travellers face each day is "a blight on our international reputation".