Housing crisis: ‘All I ever wanted was a home for my family’

In the space of a year, Lydia and her family went from pinpointing a home to buy to couchsurfing in Dublin. Their experience is far from rare, highlighting the stressful and dehumanising vagaries of the housing system, writes Noel Baker

'It’s demoralising. You feel like an appalling parent'... This is the reality facing families in Ireland who are earning salaries and yet cannot afford a place to live. Picture: Larry Cummins

“Horrific, it was horrific. So stressful, and surreal. You sort of can’t believe that it’s happening.”

And yet it did happen. Imagine, in the space of less than a year, going from pinpointing a family home to buy, in a location where you want to live, to couchsurfing with family 300km away — and not even with the cushion of being assessed for emergency accommodation.