Mother of three, Maggie Stapleton opened up about her experience with the local authority on the Ryan Tubridy chat show this morning. Maggie revealed that she had to become homeless before she could recieve any help.
Maggie became emotional on the radio show as she said that she was currently living with her family in a city centre hotel.
Maggie along with her family became homeless after her landlord decided to sell the property she was renting at the time. Despite her best efforts to find somewhere new for her family, she was unable to find a property that accepted rent allowance.
“I was renting up in the Dublin 15 area and I couldn’t afford the rent, it was crippling me being on my own with three kids. Then my landlord decided to sell the house, so the stress and the anxiety of the whole thing made me very sick - my hair was starting to fall out.”
Maggie then went to the local authority for help, where she discovered that her and her family had to be declared homeless, before they could be given any help.
“I went down to my local authority to ask for help and they said the day you become homeless you need to come down to us. They expect you to come down to the local authorities with your whole life in tow with bags, furniture etc., it’s just madness.”
Maggie along with her six-year-old, four-year-old and tenth-month-old children were housed in a hotel in the city centre and have been living there since. Maggie said she was opening about her experience, as there needs to be drastic changes in order to help those who are suffering as a result of the housing crisis.
“A lot of things need to be changed in regards to how they want people to present themselves on the day they become homeless. Even if they gave people a couple of days, say okay look, we’re putting you out of your house on the 24th of March, come down a few days before that and we can see if there’s anything available but there’s nothing like that.”
Maggie along with other mothers who have also become homeless have set up a Facebook page, Housing Action in order to campaign for changes in homeless accommodation.
