Homelessness: Young mother forced to live in a mobile home after 50% rent rise

Lone parent Michelle Ward was renting privately  for nearly four years at a cost of €800 per month until her landlord put the rent up to €1,200

Michelle Ward and her four-year-old son live in a mobile home at the side of her father’s house in Galway.

Michelle Ward is a 34-year-old lone parent living in a mobile home at the side of her father’s house in Galway with her four-year-old son Gavin.

The mother of one was renting privately in Glenamaddy with her son for nearly four years at a cost of €800 per month.

However last year her landlord put up her rent to €1,200 which she could not afford and was forced to move back to her father’s home.

This article is part of the special report on homelessness. Read more here: 

A national shame: Another Christmas for thousands in emergency accommodation;

Case study: Mother living in B&B with her family on housing list for 19 years;

Case study: 'My family has been moved from county to county for two years'.

While she has a roof over her head, Michelle said living in a mobile home is not ideal for her son, who has eczema and asthma. She herself suffers with anxiety and depression.

“It is a really tough situation,” she said.

“I can’t work because there is no one to mind my son, my father is recovering from cancer, and my mother is deceased. My brother is young and has his own life.

“I have some help from my son’s father, he takes him two weekends a month, but the reality is, we are living in a mobile home that wouldn’t be fully weatherproofed.”

I was in rented accommodation for three-and-a-half years in a place in Glenamaddy which wasn’t the best, but we were happy.

“It was a two-storey farmhouse that needed renovations, as well as paint and floors, but the landlord didn’t do it.

“He then put the rent up and I couldn’t afford it.”

Michelle was unable to find private rental accommodation under Hap, and her father and uncle bought her a mobile home to live in.

“We do have heating and gas, but it wouldn’t be the warmest,” she explained. 

“I have to shower in my father’s house and if he is not there, we have to use the cold water in the mobile home.

She describes her situation as “depressing” and was distressed when she had to leave her accommodation last year.

I am only on the housing list one year because I thought the rental situation was going fine. 

“But once it was increased, I couldn’t manage that. Even though I know I am doing my best, I feel like I can’t provide for my child,” she said.

“I’ve been onto my local politicians, and they have said there is no house.

“If you see inside our mobile, my son’s room has black mould on the curtains.

“I just broke down crying one day, it’s very difficult to live like this and I am onto the council all the time.

“I do say, it could be worse and that I have a roof over my head, but it is no way to live either.

“I don’t want to move again and upset my son until there is something more permanent, so I am putting up with this for now, I have no choice.

“My son was toilet trained but all the stress we have now, he has gone back to wetting the bed, so it’s a matter of waiting and hoping we can get things sorted.”