A young dad said his family are facing homelessness after their planned eviction from their house of 11 years later this week.
Alan Fitzpatrick, 37, his wife Kelly, 30, and their three dependent children Kasey, 17, Jack, 10 and Bobby, six, now fear they will have to spend the weekend on the streets. Their plight comes as updated homeless figures due out on Friday are likely to be the highest figures on record.
The Fitzpatrick family have been living in Clondalkin, Dublin 22 under the Housing Assistant Payment scheme. The unemployed couple said they have been on South Dublin County Council housing list for 11-and-a-half years.
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In January, they were informed by the landlord they would have to vacate the property by Friday. The couple have been searching for suitable alternative accommodation but to no avail.
Alan said: “I’ve been onto local TDs, South Dublin County Council. I’ve sent them videos of our children crying about having to leave their home and the area they live in and go to school in. We just don’t know where we are going to go.”
Alan said an offer of emergency accommodation in Westmeath was given to them. But this would mean a three-hour 14-minute two-bus trip to bring the children to school.
He added: “That would mean getting up at 4am to get the kids to school. We will have to ring around again on Friday for accommodation.
“But we fear we won’t have anywhere to go and will end up on the streets just days before the children go back to school. We’ve been selling off all our furniture as we know we will be on the streets by the weekend.
“I feel politicians in general aren’t doing enough for the homeless crisis.” Alan said he even looked into paying for a hotel for his family – but discovered a local facility was charging more than €5,000 for them to stay for just two weeks.
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He added: “The kids are in tears all the time, saying goodbye to their friends, and I just feel we will end up walking the streets this weekend. We have nowhere to go. My kids are completely heartbroken.”
Focus Ireland said they are seeing more people who are in danger of losing their homes. A spokesperson added: “Most of these individuals already get a HAP payment, which is meant to cover their housing needs but is blatantly failing to do so. Affordable housing is essential for decreasing poverty in addition to further HAP measures as many households in Ireland are now in danger of poverty due to high housing costs.”
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