Domestic violence victims and single mothers most at risk of becoming homeless, study shows
Annah Lepitua told Focus Ireland event about how she was working at Dublin Airport when she was evicted and went into emergency accommodation in 2022. Picture: Leah Farrell / Photocall Ireland
Domestic violence is a significant factor in making mothers and their children homeless, while families unable to source accommodation are waking up in the middle of the night to apply for properties, a new study has found.
Focus Ireland said the findings from its research examining the experiences of 52 families who entered emergency accommodation in Dublin between August 2022 and November 2023 shows how they are struggling under a system which is facing severe pressures.
It stressed however, its 'Insights into Family Homelessness' study could not be taken as representative of all the 1,134 families who were assessed as homeless in the capital in the same time period.
âHomelessness has been seen as a problem thatâs a âbit mysteriousâ,â said the charityâs director of advocacy Mike Allen. âIn the election five years ago, major parties included 15, 16, 17 references to homelessness in their manifestos, linked to specific thought-out policy responses.
âThis time they mention it three-four times. In the most banal ways. Nothing to say about how it can be solved... but solved it can be.âÂ
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The research, which covers the period when the Government lifted the no-fault eviction ban, found families with stable housing histories were continuing to become homeless because of such evictions as landlords sold up.
Meanwhile, single mothers experienced significant challenges first in retaining their homes and then in their efforts to leave homelessness.
âThere were increases in domestic violence as a primary reason for homelessness compared with previous reports,â study co-author Laurie OâDonnell said.
Its report featured comments made by those families within homelessness, who highlighted their experiences entering in, living in and trying to exit this situation.
âWhat gets me most is itâs almost Christmas, and I donât want to get upset around [my daughter],â one mother in emergency accommodation said. âWe are living in a bed, she is eating everything in bed... I never want her to remember this.âÂ
Others described difficulties in trying to source accommodation, particularly when declaring they were in receipt of Hap.
One participant told the researchers: âIf we put in the description that we are on Hap or have a baby, we wonât get viewings.âÂ
Another said: âIt is so disheartening. I wake up at half past two and I am applying for houses then.âÂ
Annah Lepitua, a woman with lived experience of homelessness, described at the Focus event in Dublin about how she was working at Dublin Airport when she was evicted and went into emergency accommodation in 2022.
âIt was a very difficult situation,â she said. âFamily homelessness is not a statistical crisis. It is one deeply affecting every family who finds themselves grasping with the insecurity and despair.âÂ
The last available figures show there were 14,760 people in emergency accommodation at the end of September. The latest figures will be published this Friday, when the country goes to the polls in the general election.
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