Richard Boyd Barrett: Stop Evicting Family with Special-Needs Children

Yeah, I think it was interesting that all the Minister said in response to the instance that I set out of the couple and their child. And actually I was just looking through the details of the case because they brought their youngest child with them. But as I was just reading over the details of the case, they actually had a daughter as well. So the son, who's two, with special needs and autism, just diagnosed, but actually the daughter of nine, also with special needs, complex, very complex special needs. And I was just looking at the email they sent me describing their extreme anxiety and concern about what homelessness would mean and all that for them in terms of the services they're trying to access. And they're waiting for those as well, of course, to get an OT for their kid and what that will do if they have to move to another area. But even they tried to move to another areas. And it's interesting, just even the homeless hap limit, you know, they were given is they were allowed to look for somewhere as high as 2,525 and they're looking all the time and they can't find anywhere. 2,500 and they can't find anywhere. And you want those rents to go even higher, which they will in my area, they will go. They go up to 3,000 and 3,500. So in the hopeless situation they're in. And all the minister says is they should engage with the local authority about emergency accommodation. When, as I said to you, what they are being told and what families like them are told week in, week out is go to a hostel in Dublin city centre with their kids, which they would be absolutely terrified to do. And that was why the mother of these children was kept just bursting into tears, because you could just see it, she was just envisaging in her head the prospect of bringing her kids into the hostel. And it just immediately she just burst out in tears. And her partner desperately trying to, trying to comfort her. And, like, have you any other advice? I just ask, if you won't do what we're asking here, which is prevent evictions of children like that, vulnerable children like that, and two lovely parents in their twenties, working, both working hard, trying to make, you know, their way in life contribute to society. If you, if you, if you won't do what these amendments are asking, which is prevent them from being evicted into homelessness. Can you offer anything more than saying they should engage with the local authority about emergency accommodation when I've told you what the reality is? Right? And given where they are on the list, they will be languishing in that for years. And that will damage. I mean, let's be under absolutely no illusion, Minister. Already vulnerable children with special needs will be damaged by that experience. Not a shadow of a doubt. Not a shadow of a doubt. Not a shadow of a doubt. Not a shadow of a doubt. That they will be damaged by that. Possibly forever. By that experience. And the best we can offer them, and the many, many other people like that, is to say, engage with the local authority over the thing. And, you know, in their desperation, in their desperation, just so you understand this, because this is relevant to the provisions of the bill as well. They said, is there any chance we could maybe look for, they now, because the daughter is going to be ten soon, they need to have a three bedroom need. And they said, well, we might have some chance of getting a two bedroom. Right? But when the children of two different sexes, and one gets to the age of ten, the boy and the girl aren't supposed to be in the same room. Right? So, they have to now look for three beds, which are completely impossible to get. And your chances of being housed by the council, and the three beds, just, you know, forget it. You're talking about a decade. Right? You know, on the list. So, they were saying, is there any chance we could maybe look for two beds? I mean, it would still be very difficult to find a two bed. But we might have some chance for a two bed. But you can't do that, because then you'd be moving into overcrowding. Yes. You'd be moving into overcrowding. Now, you see, the thing is, right? We're in the dilemma, where they are saying, we're going to the council and saying, maybe you could let them look for a two bed. In this desperate situation to avoid homeless, maybe you could let them move into an overcrowded place. Because, of course, if they are made homeless, in the next week, which is their day to have to leave, if they go into a hostel in town, they will definitely be overcrowded. And they'll be a lot worse overcrowded, by the way. Because they'll probably all be in one room together. As many of the homeless families that I'm dealing with are. But we can't, we can put them into one bedroom in an emergency accommodation, but we can't put them into two bedrooms overcrowding, because that's not their housing need. But there is a dilemma for the local authority, and even more so with this bill, because what are one of the grounds for the evictions that are still allowed? Big and small landlords can evict if the property is not suitable to the family's needs. In other words, if they're overcrowded. That is a justification for evicting them. So, we're really on the horns of a dilemma. Because they might have a chance of getting a property where they will be overcrowded. It's very, very far from perfect. But if they were to do that, they are then vulnerable to eviction by a landlord who might say this is not suitable to your needs. If at any point that landlord decided they could get more rent by evicting them and getting people where the property was appropriate to their needs. So that's the mess we're in. Or more to the point, that's the mess they're in. And they are absolutely terrified. Terrified for the wellbeing of their children, for themselves and so on. You could stop it. Even on a temporary basis, you could stop it. And very finally, I would just say, the Minister said, thank God we're not in a pandemic. Thank God we're not in a pandemic. I was looking at the dictionary definition of pandemic. Pandemic isn't just a global epidemic. It also can be a whole country. So there is actually a pandemic in Ireland. A pandemic of homelessness, a housing crisis pandemic. There is. There is. If ever you could describe an epidemic of a housing crisis and a homelessness crisis, we're living it now. So there is a pandemic in terms of the literal meaning of the term. And that justifies taking emergency measures to prevent damage being done to those children who will be homeless. If you don't come up with a better answer than send them to engage with a local authority about emergency accommodation in Dublin city centre. Thank you. Thank you.