Nine-year-old Jake*, who has been homeless for more than a year, lives in a hotel in central Dublin with his mother. His sister Becka* (18) lived with them for a while but now stays with their grandmother in Tallaght, near her school. Jake had to move to a school nearer his emergency accommodation.
Their hotel room is “a decent size” but “only homeless people are allowed in the hotel,” says Jake.
“I’m not allowed have friends there and I’d like that. I miss my friends from my old school,” he says. “My best friend is Rob* but I don’t really see him because I don’t go to that school any more. It does make me sad. I haven’t picked a best friend at my new school yet.”
Jake is one of the 4,561 children across Ireland who tonight will go to sleep in beds they don’t call their own, in rooms that aren’t theirs, away from their communities and in buildings described as “emergency accommodation”. They are in 2,133 families, 58 per cent of which are headed by lone parents.
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The young boy misses Tallaght.
“I liked my house because there was so much stuff. There is a TV now, where I moved to, but I can’t use it to play video games. It’s not a smart TV. We had multiple beds in multiple rooms and now it’s just a bunk bed and a normal one,” he says.
Asked when he left his last home, he says: “I think I was seven or eight.” He gets meals “downstairs”, in a diningroom, because “there is no kitchen in the room”.
“I forgot what my mam cooks because it has been so, so, so long, but I want her to make beef and noodles,” he says.
He is looking forward to getting a home with his mother and Becka.
“I hope it will have a garden. I have anger issues and all, but my mam is good all the time. She is trying to get rid of my anger issues and to get me a house. I love her,” he says.
In recent weeks The Irish Times spoke to four children, in three families, living in “emergency accommodation”.
[ Homeless figures reach record high with 14,429 people in emergency accommodationOpens in new window ]
They all missed having their own bedroom, friends calling in, pets and their mothers’ cooking. Some hadn’t told friends they were homeless, making up excuses if asked. They described being tired because their emergency accommodation was noisy at night, of being bored, of not having enough space. Some worried about their mothers. All described their hopes for getting a new house.
Aaron Ferguson is a family case manager with Focus Ireland, the lead charity working with homeless families.
“You see sometimes the kids are holding [in] how they are, putting on a brave face ... The mams and dads are being the best they can for their kids, but they are struggling too,” he says.
“You hear about kids saying sometimes: ‘Mammy is a bit sad today.’”
Ferguson works with 26 families in Dublin. Among stresses for children he sees are loss of community, cramped conditions, loss of privacy, rules in emergency accommodation such as not being allowed play outside rooms, and worrying about family members.
A decade ago The Irish Times spoke to five homeless children, aged between five and 16. In November 2014 there were 798 homeless children. The figure was so shocking at the time then Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil there was “an emergency here for many of these cases”.
[ From the archive: Dublin’s homeless childrenOpens in new window ]
At that time, the emerging housing crisis was a priority for then Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly, the Labour TD, who said resources would be made available to deal with it.
He was responding to then leader of the opposition and now Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who described the numbers of destitute children as “by any standards ... shameful”.
Since, there have been two general elections – in February 2016, when the number of homeless children reached 1,881 in 912 families. By the time of the next election, in February 2020, there were 3,534 homeless children, in 1,610 families.
On November 29th, as votes are cast in the next general election, publication of homelessness figures for October will likely report another bleak record.
I felt like a bit of me was gone. I felt shame. Home is such a basic thing
— Becka (18)
In its plea to political parties now ramping up their election campaigns, Focus Ireland warns that without “specific and targeted” adjustments to “routine housing policy”, there will be “large scale homelessness for many years”.
In 2014 the primary cause of family homelessness was spiralling rents. The main driver now is landlords selling up.
Ferguson is concerned at a mismatch between number of families coming into homelessness and lower numbers exiting. This means some families, especially the more vulnerable, are getting stuck in homelessness.
Between June and August, Department of Housing figures show that 480 families entered homelessness but just 327 exited.
“In the last three months I have had three families move out,” says Ferguson.
Focus Ireland has reiterated its call for more social housing and argues that a proportion should be ring-fenced and dedicated for households homeless for six months or more.
“International evidence suggests that ending long-term homelessness requires a targeted approach involving dedicated housing units allocated to homeless households,” says Mike Allen, head of advocacy with the charity.
He says not enough social homes for single people or families with four or more children are being built, especially in Dublin where homelessness is highest.
“Dublin City Council only met half its new-build social housing target in 2023, creating serious challenges for addressing long-term homelessness in the city,” he says.
Focus Ireland plans to amplify homeless children’s voices and is setting up a youth panel for secondary-school-age children to express their views and concerns, and will also support younger children through play.
“We want to hear their voices, to improve our services and bring their views to stakeholders like the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and Tusla,” says Hester Rodenhuis, team leader with the charity’s homeless action team.
“We hope the young people will feel empowered, that their voices matter, and that will impact them positively. As adults we assume a lot of things for children and young people, assume we know what they need, but rarely ask them.”
Jake’s sister Becka, when asked what she misses about having a home, says: “So much – having a few hours in the evening by yourself, not hearing anyone, being able to make a cup of tea or have a shower when you want.
I do homework on top of my bed, eat on my bed. The only time I don’t go on my bed is in school. I’d like a break from that bed
— Killian, aged nine
“I felt like a bit of me was gone. I felt shame. I still haven’t told my friends I am living in my nana’s. Home is such a basic thing.”
Ronald* (seven), from Crumlin, has been homeless for a year. He lives in a family hub with his mother.
“I liked our other house because it had more rooms. I had my own bed. Now it’s a bunk bed and the TV is small,” he says. “The new place is really, really noisy. Everyone is talking a lot. There are rules like my friends can’t visit. It makes me angry and sad.”
Asked what kind of home would he like, he says: “I’d like to live anywhere, just not in a place with other families.
“We don’t do everything in the room but we do eat in the room. My mum gets the dinner downstairs and I stay in the room. After school I just stay home in the room. It is boring every time. I hate when I am bored. I’d want a garden to play soccer.
“I am not allowed pets and I want to get a hamster. When I get a house I will have my own room. I might put a hamster there. I might do my homework there. I would sleep there and it will be peaceful. I’d like a new house and my mum, she would love it too.
“She is always happy. She only cries sometimes.”
Killian* (nine) has been homeless with his mother and infant sister since April. They live in a family hub since their landlord sold their private-rented home in south Dublin.
“I miss my old house. I liked that my friends could come over and also that I could have some privacy. And my sister, when she woke up, she didn’t wake me.”
That was a four-bedroom house, he says.
“Now we have one room with bunk bed, desk, fridge, toilet, shower, sink. That is pretty much it,” he says.
“I wake in the morning very tired because it’s noisy at night. I have breakfast in the bedroom and I watch my tablet. I do homework on top of my bed, eat on my bed. The only time I don’t go on my bed is in school. I’d like a break from that bed.”
He says that his mother does’t have a kitchen at the hub so staff give them food.
“I miss her cooking a lot, I miss nsima [a traditional Malawian dish]. It makes me sad she can’t cook.”
His friends cannot visit him at the hub.
“But they used to come to my old house. If they ask, I tell them: ‘No.’ I say: ‘I’m going somewhere.’ One of my friends knows I am homeless. He is my best friend.
“I’d like a big house so my sister can have her own room and I won’t hear her. And a pool and a balcony. Then wood floors like a modern-day mansion.”
*Names have been changed. All conversations with children were in the presence of their parent and the family’s Focus Ireland support worker.
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