A Dublin man, who donated a four-bedroom house for two years in 2021 to accommodate a refugee family, says he has been “misled” and “taken for a fool” and remains uncertain when he will get his property back, almost a year after the family was due to move out.
William Guerin, a retired schoolteacher originally from Listowel, Co Kerry, has “no issue” with the Afghan family who still live in his Malahide property, but he is “furious” with the Irish Refugee Council (IRC), which co-ordinates the scheme under which the family moved into the house, and the Department of Integration responsible for it.
The family, who were brought to Ireland by the Government in August 2021, face possible homelessness from next week when a notice to quit from Mr Guerin comes into effect. They are “very worried” and “praying to God” they say, while the local community group who sponsored the family would “never” get involved in such a project again, describing the experience as “very stressful” and “a complete mess”.
The IRC agrees there are “learnings” from the case. “Unfortunately, the situation became tied up with the vagaries of the housing market,” said an IRC source familiar with the case, describing the case as “unusual and exceptional”.
In spring 2021 Mr Guerin bought a 1990s house on a 2.6-acre site near his home in Malahide, planning to develop the site. Knowing there would be about two years before a sod would be turned, he approached first the Irish Red Cross and then the Irish Refugee Council to offer the house rent-free for a refugee family.
“I felt we [he and his wife Michelle] had good fortune in life and it would be an ideal opportunity to contribute to society. I didn’t want any rent or to become a landlord,” he says.
The IRC was aware of a local community group established in 2019 as part of what is known as the Community Sponsorship Ireland (CSI) scheme that was looking for a suitable house to welcome a refugee family.
The CSI scheme, piloted in 2018 and expanded since, operates under the Government’s Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) – Ireland’s response to the global migration crisis. The scheme supports ‘community sponsorship groups’ to welcome families, already recognised as refugees before arriving in Ireland, and help them integrate. The groups help families with issues such as accessing social protection payments, school places, employment supports and, crucially, housing.
Each group must identify a suitable house and ensure its availability for at least two years at the end of which the family should move to long-term housing. Since 2018, 59 refugee families, including 248 people, have settled across Ireland under the CSI scheme.
Retired publisher Michael Gill headed up the Malahide community group when Mr Guerin made his offer.
“The IRC asked us if we were interested in the house. We absolutely were,” says Mr Gill. “And about mid-August we were matched up with a family of eight who had just escaped during the evacuation from Kabul.”
The family spent a month in Mosney before moving into the house in September 2021. They have integrated well but remain in fear of being located by the Taliban, so do not wish to be identified. They told The Irish Times they were “delighted” when they moved in.
“It was all ready, with furniture, everything,” said a daughter who has just completed her Leaving Certificate. “Willie was so kind. The group was so welcoming. We were really happy and not worried about a single thing.”
Though Mr Guerin was reluctant to draw up a lease – insisting he neither wanted to be a landlord nor to receive rent – Mr Gill explained a two-year contract was necessary “to safeguard everyone”. Rent was set at €3,000 a month (though never collected by Mr Guerin) to enable the family apply for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) – a necessary step to get on Fingal County Council’s housing list.
A two-year letting agreement, drawn up by the IRC’s and Mr Guerin’s solicitors, was signed by the family and Mr Guerin on September 15th, 2021.
Mr Guerin agrees his solicitor warned him that once the family was in the house for six months they would accrue Part 4 tenancy rights – meaning they could stay for six years unless Mr Guerin had legal grounds to terminate the lease.
“By that stage I had met the family. I couldn’t back out on them. And I trusted the Refugee Council would honour the agreement. It turned out the agreement wasn’t worth the paper it was written on,” says Mr Guerin.
Mr Gill’s group was not involved in the two-year contract and also trusted it would be honoured, protecting both the family and Mr Guerin. The community group, he says, received a day’s training from the IRC that did not cover residential tenancy law. The IRC says this is included in training materials.
Between October 2021, when the group applied for the Hap for the family, and February 2023 when Hap was finally approved, the group faced “Kafkaesque” obstacles, says Mr Gill. Though assured by the IRC Fingal would be familiar with the CSI programme, he says: “There was one question after another, being passed from section to section. They seemed to have no idea what [the CSI programme] was.”
By February 2023 Mr Guerin, concerned about regaining possession of the house, refused to sign the HAP forms.
“I read through the requirements of the scheme. I was being referred to as ‘the landlord’. I feared getting in deeper ... I decided I was not signing anything else.”
This has prevented the family, who had put aside money each month towards the rent, accessing HAP and the housing list.
By summer 2023, just months before the family was to move out, there was no sign of a suitable home to move to near the children’s schools and adults’ workplaces.
Relations between Mr Guerin, the community group and the IRC had broken down. In July 2023 Mr Gill assured Mr Guerin the IRC was “determined the termination date” would “be honoured”. Since then, however, neither the community group nor the IRC has succeeded in finding them housing.
In April, Mr Guerin was granted planning permission to develop the site. This was legal grounds to issue 180 days’ notice to quit. On June 20th his solicitor issued a further notice to quit, on grounds of rent arrears since September 2023, seeking vacant possession by July 31st. Neither Mr Gill nor the IRC was aware of this until after the 28-day window to appeal it to the Residential Tenancies Board.
On Wednesday Fingal County Council said it would provide “accommodation” for the family. It remains unclear, however, when “accommodation” will be provided, what form it will take or where it will be. Mr Guerin has decided to sell the site rather than develop it, no longer having “the stomach” for it.
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Neither the IRC nor the Department of Integration would comment on the case specifically. Nick Henderson, IRC chief executive, said “learnings” from cases such as this included the need for “stronger policies and procedures”, particularly identifying long-term housing far earlier in the process. More intensive support for community groups, particularly on housing, was now in place.
[ Lorcan Sirr: Housing is the missing link in the debate about immigrationOpens in new window ]
The department plans to expand the CSI scheme. “The Government has committed to welcoming 25 families per year under the Community Sponsorship Ireland Programme in the period 2024-2027,” said a spokesman. Fingal County Council was asked for comment.
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