Red tape puts homeless families at risk of sleeping rough, says Dublin charity

Homeless families are at increasing risk of sleeping rough as they face “obstacles, delays and red tape accessing emergency accommodation”, according to a Dublin charity.

Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) said in the past week it had paid for hotel rooms for nine families who couldn’t get emergency beds, while in the past month a family arrived at its doors having slept rough overnight.

Its chief executive, Cllr Anthony Flynn, said after "several months" of very few families presenting – during the Government's moratorium on evictions – numbers were "climbing again".

And because Dublin's central homeless placement (CPS) service at Parkgate Hall is open by appointment only due to Covid restrictions, families can be "waiting days" to see a homelessness officer.

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"Red tape is taking longer to be sorted. It's blockade after blockade and families are being left with nowhere to go," said Cllr Flynn.

“We’ve had nine families, between Tuesday and Thursday, who could not access emergency accommodation. In the last two weeks we had three phone calls from Garda stations where families arrived with nowhere to sleep. About a month ago a Garda brought a family into us who had slept overnight on the quays. They had three children under 12.”

A further issue was the “hard line” the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) was taking on not accepting anyone from outside Dublin, he said. “Ping-ponging families between local authorities is not solving the problem.”

A DRHE spokeswoman rejected Cllr Flynn’s assertions as “absolutely untrue and misleading”.

The CPS had “continued throughout the pandemic, to provide a full service”, she said.

“Any family newly presenting as homeless… receives an initial homeless assessment over the phone. Then, depending on their circumstances, they will be referred to our prevention team or be given a full homeless assessment over the phone or in person.”

Presentations were by appointment only, she confirmed, but appointments were given “within 24 hours” and families were told what paperwork to bring.

“A full assessment must be carried out to ascertain the circumstances that lead to homelessness [and] to ensure the required documentation is in order before an emergency placement is arranged.”

Cllr Flynn is calling for more CPS staff to speed up the service, as well as “intermediary accommodation” for families in crisis awaiting full assessments.

Tenancy surrender

Among those helped by ICHH is Philomena and Sean Keogh, and their 10-year-old daughter. The family became homeless in April 2020, following an attack on their home. They felt unsafe and it was agreed by Dublin City Council that they surrender their tenancy, and be housed elsewhere. This has yet to happen.

They were placed in a hotel, then a family hub and the couple separated temporarily. Ms Keogh had a breakdown in August.

“I didn’t even know where I was, what I was doing. I had a massive breakdown. I couldn’t stop crying. Everything just got the better of me,” she said.

Gardaí were called by hub staff. Three daughters, aged 10, eight and three, were taken into emergency care, while Ms Keogh was admitted to hospital. A fourth daughter was staying with family at the time and remains there.

Following discharge from hospital she and Sean reunited. Two of the children remain in the care of a family friend. They and their 10-year-old stayed with friends for a few weeks, before paying for their own B&B room until money ran out.

They have been unable to access emergency accommodation as a family as Sean’s name was removed from their homelessness assessment.

It has taken almost two weeks to have Sean’s name put back on their file during which time their accommodation has been paid for by two charities – ICHH and the Lighthouse.

“It has been so stressful, awful,” said Ms Keogh. “It’s very upsetting to be treated like this. Only for the Lighthouse, and for Anthony, we would have been walking the streets. How can they leave people like this?”

The family was placed in a city centre B&B on Friday evening. They said it was “not fit” for children and hope to be moved to accommodation where the full family can be reunited.