Asylum-seekers and refugees encounter "huge problems" finding a decent place to live in Ireland. They face racism and discrimination from landlords, and suffer isolation and social exclusion, research to be published today shows.
The study, Housing and Refugees: The Real Picture says an appropriate response to this group's housing needs is needed urgently.
Authors Dr Pádraic Kenna of NUI Galway and Dr Pádraig MacNeela of Dublin City University also say urgent action must be taken on the accommodation needs of unaccompanied minors.
The study was commissioned by the Vincentian Refugee Centre in Dublin and the authors interviewed refugees and asylum seekers using the service in Cabra, Dublin.
Since April 2000, asylum-seekers have been accommodated and fed at centres around the State with weekly payment of €19.10 per week. In May 2003 there were almost 4,000 asylum seekers in 55 centres in 24 counties.
"The refugees and asylum-seekers generally found their experience of reception hostels to be a negative one," says the report.
"Some of the respondents were required to live in this environment for between one and two years and the institutional routine of the hostels was quite wearing."
One respondent spoke for many when he described hostel life.
"There were 12 in a room. When I arrived I was having a problem so I couldn't sleep if there is a noise when I wake up. We are sharing the shower with more than 30 people. There are ladies who are having their babies. They are also using the same shower."
The report says many refugees and asylum-seekers require particular support in housing which is not being met.
"Facing the demands and adjustments of a new culture can create 'acculturative stress' indicated in symptoms such as anxiety, uncertainty, loneliness, depression, conflicts about ethnic and cultural identity and feelings of isolation." Current State policy fails to address the social or psychological needs of this group, says the report.
These immigrants tended to have great difficulty finding a place of their own to live, with landlords reluctant to accept rent allowance.
Sister Breege Keenan of the Vincentian Refugee Centre said 60 per cent of those who came to the centre needed help with accommodation.
"There are a number of major barriers they have to overcome to obtain adequate housing and further their integration into Irish society." Among the barriers identified are language and cultural differences, discrimination and racism, growing demand and competition for accommodation and the negative image landlords have of rent allowance.
Respondents often described bad-quality accommodation as the only type they could secure in the private sector. One described the cold, damp conditions of his bedsit.
"The flat was not OK. I got it because I wanted to move from the hostel. the window was broken, the bathroom bad. There was no bed. I asked him [the landlord\] about the bed, to buy the bed. He said no, so I got bed from Sister Breege."
Among recommendations in the report are that supported housing for refugees and asylum-seekers be funded and that a refugee housing officer be appointed in each local authority.
