Life on the edge

 

Angie* is 21-years-old and has two children, aged one and two. Herself, her partner and her kids are one of the many hidden homeless families in Dublin. She is currently living at her mother's house with their daughter, while her partner lives at his mother's house with their son. There is no private rented accommodation currently available within the rent allowance bracket, and the odd one they do find will not accept rent allowance. If her and her partner were to start working, they will not be able to afford both rent and childcare, but if only one of them finds a job, they will not have enough money to pay rent and live on. 

 

Here is Angie's story:

 

The social welfare told me I had to find work. I signed up to an extras agency, which provides extras for TV and film. I was only called on occasion, and though I earned roughly €80 per day (before tax), it was a long day. You could be standing around outdoors from 6am to 10pm and only be needed for five minutes. On top of this the social welfare took the money from my weekly payment, and my rent allowance was suspended while they 'reviewed my case'.

 

We lost our home because we didn't have the rent, and myself, my partner and our two kids were basically homeless. The housing office said they couldn't help as we were only on the list two years. So we were not seen as the Government's problem.

We had no choice but to return to our parents with our tails between our legs. We knew it would not be easy. Having fled the nest two years previous, we were used to our own parenting techniques and our own routine, but we faced an even bigger problem: lack of space.

We had no choice but to live apart. Myself in my mother's house with DD and my partner in his mother's house with DS (which was almost an hour away on the bus, as was the kids créche). Every morning I endured the tiring commute up to the créche, and got to see DS for five minutes before getting the bus back in the other direction to go to college (I foolishly thought I could work, try to re-do my leaving cert, look after my kids and be basically homeless at the same time).

We made the journey to the housing office once again to explain how the situation had escalated. Surely they couldn't leave a family separated like this, sleeping on couches with their young children? How wrong was I.

 

They referred us to the homeless unit on Parkgate Street, where we were systematically given a ticket, told there was nothing available and asked to call a phone number at 2pm to check if anything had become available. We were also told at one point, if we were worried we may end up on the streets, to go to the Garda station, but were informed they will call social services, and will more than likely have our children taken from us.

 

We are just one of the families who follow these instructions day after day, who knows how long for.

 

We are just another statistic.

 

Another family of the hidden homeless.

 

But apparently, we are not the Government's problem.

 

*Name has been changed.