Family facing homelessness in Cork after fleeing Taliban offered accommodation

Mohammad Hamed and Samira Naderi and their two-year-old son Zahed, along with their friend Mohammad Mansoor Jalalzai, have been offered a three-bed house in Cobh

Samir, Hamed and Zahed Naderi in Cork this week, after their arrival from Afghanistan in recent days.

An Afghan family and their friend who fled to Ireland to escape the Taliban have been offered accommodation by the Irish Red Cross, two weeks before they expected to become homeless.

Mohammad Hamed and Samira Naderi and their two-year-old son Zahed, along with their friend Mohammad Mansoor Jalalzai, were contacted by the Irish Red Cross on Thursday afternoon with the offer of a three-bed house in Cobh. 

It came after they raised fears in the Irish Examiner that they would be homeless when they have to leave the student accommodation they currently live in, in Cork city, at the end of this month.

They were notified last week that they have to leave their current accommodation on July 31 because students will be returning to the property in August. They had applied for viewings for hundreds of houses online but had not been able to secure even a viewing for a new home.

A spokesman for the Irish Red Cross confirmed that the housing offer had been made to the Naderis and Mr Jalalzai.

Mr Naderi said: “We are so very happy.” Mr Jalalzai also welcomed the development and said he will commute to Cork city to work.

The Naderis arrived in Cork in February while Mohammad Mansoor came last October.

All were allowed to come to Ireland through the Irish Refugee Protection Programme.

They are very grateful to the host families who took them into their homes when they arrived in Ireland. The arrival of the Naderi family in Ireland was just weeks after Zahed’s heart stopped because of illness.

A family member had to take him to hospital because his parents Samira and Mohammad could not risk being found by the Taliban, who had threatened to kill them. Before the Taliban gained control in Afghanistan last August, Mohammad worked in human rights with the Afghan Women’s Network.

Recently, the Irish Examiner reported that letting agents in Munster are advertising available rental properties online for just one hour because of the overwhelming demand from desperate house hunters.

Some properties at rents of less than €1,000 are being snapped up before they are even advertised online.