Mexican student caught in accommodation crisis may have to go home

Alma Yasbeth Pacheco Correa: 'I have not made my final decision yet to go home but if I still don’t have somewhere by Wednesday, I will have to go home.' Picture: Moya Nolan

A Mexican student who was asked for an intimate photo of herself by a landlord who also did not return her deposit after changing the terms of their agreement, fears she will have to return home to Mexico within days.

Alma Yasbeth Pacheco Correa, 31, had secured rental accommodation in recent weeks for the current academic year on condition she provide care to an elderly person. 

However, she must move out of that property on Wednesday after being given two weeks' notice, because her college schedule means she has a night class that will have her too late back to her accommodation for the start of her carer shift.

Ms Pacheco Correa has been unable so far to find alternative accommodation and said: “It seems like I will have to return home.” 

She had saved for five years in Mexico to come to Ireland to study for a masters in entrepreneurship in Dublin in the current academic year.

She initially found accommodation in Tallaght but it fell through in July.

She had paid that landlord €480 in a deposit in April. She did not respond when her landlord texted her in July asking her for the photo. 

A month later, he contacted her again to tell her that the room she had paid €480 of a deposit for would not be available until October because his ill sister needed it. He told her she could get her deposit back if that timeframe did not suit her. 

However, though she opted to get her deposit back, she has not been able to.

During her hunt for a different property, she said she was also offered a bed-sharing arrangement with a different landlord just weeks later.

Now, she is desperate to find accommodation yet again but said it was impossible.

“I have not made my final decision yet to go home but if I still don’t have somewhere by Wednesday, I will have to go home.” 

She said she had high hopes of improving her life by coming to Ireland and studying here.

"I thought it would work better for me but the accommodation issue is a very bad problem here.” 

Ms Pacheco Correa’s friends from Chile returned to their home country recently after difficulties with accommodation in Ireland.

The Irish Council for International Students is currently running a survey of foreign students here, to establish what challenges they face in the accommodation crisis.

ICOS said it would use the information gathered from the survey to campaign about the issues highlighted by international students.

Earlier this month, the French embassy in Ireland warned people coming from France would find it difficult to find accommodation because of a “severe housing crisis” here.

The warning was posted in a section giving guidance for French people looking to move to Ireland.

The advice said: “New arrivals, including students, face significant difficulties in finding accommodation.

“The strong demand and the saturation of the rental market have led to a sharp increase in rents, which are currently much more expensive than in Paris, including shared accommodation.”