A Dublin mum, who was made homeless with her two girls, has found a home after spending months in “difficult” circumstances in emergency accommodation.
Lorraine Ryan Beaumont said that she “couldn’t comprehend” a letter she received in the post last week informing her that she has been chosen for a property in Dublin from Choice Based Lettings.
Speaking to Gript she described her level of joy and disbelief, saying, “I had to get one of the staff members [at the emergency accommodation centre] to read it,” to confirm its contents.
Lorraine said that, after over a year of unsuccessfully searching for a home for herself and her girls, she applied for the house, “I didn’t think I’d get it,” she said.
“We were so lucky,” she said, explaining how some of the other families in the shelter said they had been on the Fingal housing list for “19 years”.
Last September, Lorraine said that she felt she had more chance of winning the lottery than finding a home.
“I’ve never spent so much money as being homeless”
Lorraine described the difficulty of living in emergency accommodation with two children, especially as her elder daughter Rose has additional needs.
She said that she had to spend a lot of money on outdoor entertainment as it was “very difficult” to have her whole family in one room.
“We were in one room all together,” she said, describing how her girls were in bunk beds, while she slept in a single bed.
“We had one small wardrobe, and everything was there,” she said.
“We had a fridge and a sink, a sofa, and a small TV all in one room together, ” she said.
She said that “everything deteriorated” with her Rose who was “out of her routine” and was reluctant to do her physiotherapy “because she was just so upset that she was there” and that she had “lost her house and her friends just weren’t coming over,”.
Lorraine spoke of how she had to get rid of “six skips” of her family’s belongings after they learned that they would have to leave their previous home where she had been for 14 years.
Despite having to give away items she would have wished to hold onto, she expressed a resolve to “make new memories” in her new home where she can stay long term.
Large families living in emergency accommodation
Lorraine said that her family of three was, along with another unit of the same size, the smallest family in the emergency accommodation facility. She said that there were families of between 5 and 7 people “all in one room” and that of the approximately 40 families present, only 6 were Irish.
She said that the meat provided at the shelter was halal and that the majority of those being accommodated were Muslims who appeared to be from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
“There were a lot of different personalities there,” she said, adding “we got along with everybody”.
“We went out, we were in the cinema all the time,” she explained, saying that she couldn’t understand how some of the large families stayed in their rooms “all day”.
“We tried not to be there for long,” she said.
She described having takeaways a lot as it was difficult to cook meals that take more time in the facility.
“A lot of your freedom, which you would think was just an everyday kind of thing, was taken from you,”.
She lamented seeing “young kids” in the centre saying this was “very hard”.
“My kids understood a bit more, but younger kids can’t understand why their friends can’t come over,”
she said.
“It’s hard on everybody in there, and it’s not fair, it’s not right,” she added.
Irish family in emergency accommodation for four years
Although she says that “such a weight has been lifted” off her since being housed, Lorraine spoke of another Irish woman who said she has been in emergency accommodation for four years after it became impossible for her and her partner to afford rent.
She said that the woman had said, “Hopefully it’s me next” after learning of Lorraine’s good news.
Lorraine spoke of how the woman has children who have spent “a lifetime” in homeless accommodation and how her partner works, but still cannot find an affordable home.
“I feel like I sold my soul for this house”
Speaking of the amount of effort she had to make to find a home, including contacting the media and a slew of political representatives, Lorraine said, “I feel like I sold my soul for this house.”
She described a feeling of having to “put everything out there” and “fight” just to get a home which is “something everyone should be entitled to” and “should be able to afford rent,”.
“It’s not right,” she said, recalling how she had to put many aspects of her life “on hold” because of not knowing where she would be.
“People’s lives are on hold,” she said, adding, “you’re just in survival mode, that’s all your in,”
“You just get through each day, that’s it, that’s all you can do,” she said.
“I know my part is over, but it’s not over”
Lorraine said that although her own experience of homelessness is at an end, that she can’t forget those who are still languishing in the emergency accommodation system.
“I know my part is over, but it’s not over,” she said, adding that “kids should not be subjected to this” and that “we all should be able to get a house,” and to have “our basic needs met.”
“We’re not looking for much,” she said.