One-parent families successively 'neglected' by Government

Although one-parent families make up 20% of the population, they make up 55% of homeless families, report says.

One-parent families have been successively neglected by the Government despite making up more than half of homeless families.

That is according to chief executive of One Family Karen Kiernan who said the most recent homeless figures were “absolutely dire”.

Speaking at the launch of the Children’s Rights Alliance (CRA) report card 2023, she noted that although one-parent families make up 20% of the population, they make up 55% of homeless families and have been neglected in successive budgets.

“It’s not an accident, it’s by failure of the State to prioritise and protect its most vulnerable families who cannot get a decent home through the private housing system,” she said. 

This comes as data published by the Central Statistics Office this month confirmed consistent poverty in one-parent families rose to 14.1% in 2022, almost three times the rate of the general population at 5%.

Nobody wants this homelessness crisis to be the mother and baby homes scandal of the future but that’s what’s going to happen.

“We see the same lack of urgency because we’ve been pushing this boulder with others up the hill for 51 years,” she said before adding One Family is currently working with parents who are not able to afford food in addition to rent. 

Ms Kiernan called for targeted measures for one-parent families, saying  welfare rates should be linked to the minimum standards of living.

CRA senior research and policy oOfficer Dr Naomi Feely said measures such as the eviction ban and the increase in Hap rates could be positive if they were on a more permanent basis or comprehensively examined. 

“If we hadn’t got those measures in place, we have no doubt that there would be substantially higher numbers in emergency accommodation,” she said.

Direct provision

Meanwhile, in highlighting the “sharp deterioration” in standards for children and young people seeking asylum in Ireland, as well as the lack of progress in the ending of direct provision, which has “nearly ground to a halt”, the launch heard from several teenagers who are currently living in direct provision.

They highlighted a lack of privacy, cooking facilities and overcrowded prison-like living spaces.

“I found out a family had been in direct provision for 12 years, their son had been there his whole life. 'I was not really feeling hopeful',” said one boy. 

A girl said her mother bought a rice cooker in order to cook herself, however, it was subsequently confiscated and not returned. “My mum was really upset for a long time,” she said. 

One boy who said he thought about committing suicide said: “Sometimes, I feel like I live in an open prison, I’m not able to do whatever I want, I have no control.” 

One girl challenged people to live in direct provision for a week “to see what’s really going on” and that “it won’t make sense until you experience it yourself”.