'Are they going to end up taking my kids'

(Above) File pic.

The shortage of rental accommodation and rising rents in Mullingar means that for people like Mary, who are eligible for Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), finding a home is becoming increasingly difficult.

Mary (not her real name) and her family have been couch surfing with relatives in the Mullingar area for the last few months after she was “illegally evicted” from the house she was renting.

Although eligible for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), the young mother of two says that high rents and a shortage of rental accommodation in Mullingar and the rest of the county means it is becoming increasingly hard for single mothers such as her to house their families.

A TD told me that the most I can get is €800 to €850 as a single parent. Any properties in Mullingar and Westmeath [that would be suitable] are all over €1,000. I don’t know what they expect a single parent to do.”

Mary recently gave birth to her second child. She says that while it was hard couch surfing when it was just her and her eldest, who is four, being one of Westmeath’s growing number of invisible homeless is significantly more difficult when you have a newborn and all the equipment they need.

“I am moving back and forth between my sister, brother and uncle. They all have small kids who will be going back to school and now they have to add a new born baby into the mix. I am stuck in a situation where I don’t know what to do,” she said.

Mary recently applied for social housing with Westmeath County Council, but knows that in the short term the chances of getting a house that she and her young family can call home are highly unlikely. She says the government needs to be do more to address the housing crisis in Westmeath and the rest of the country.

A new report by the Simon Community, published last week, highlights the difficulties people such as Mary, who are eligible for HAP, have sourcing accommodation.

The report, Locked Out, carried out surveys of the national property market over three days in June and found that a single parent with two children, there were only five properties available across the country within the standard HAP limits.

Wayne Stanley, head of policy and communications at the Simon Communities of Ireland, says that unless the government addresses the issue quickly, homelessness rates will rise.

“HAP rates have to be addressed in the short term to keep people in their homes and support them out of homelessness,” he said.

“However, we cannot continue to chase rents and we need delivery of public housing.”

For Mary, the search for affordable accommodation for her family continues. Unless she can find somewhere soon, she is afraid that her greatest fear will be realised.

“What is going to happen are they going to end up taking my two kids off me because I have nowhere to go?”