Asylum seekers facing accommodation crisis even after being granted permission to stay in Ireland 

A FORMER resident of Kinsale Road direct provision centre in Cork city, who has received permission to remain in the country, has raised serious concerns about his future as he is unable to source accommodation.

The Algerian man, who is staying with his friend because he is unable to secure accommodation amid the current housing shortage, said he feels as though he is being treated like an “alien” by the State.

It comes as some residents of the direct provision centre on Kinsale Road received correspondence recently from the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) stating that they are to be transferred to a disused army camp in Co Wicklow.

These residents are asylum seekers who have successfully applied for asylum and who now have their papers but have to date been unable to source new accommodation.

Other residents, people whose applications for asylum have been rejected but who are currently seeking a judicial review in the High Court, have received correspondence stating that they are to be sent to Knockalisheen in Co Clare, where they are to be accommodated in tents.

Speaking about his current situation, the former resident of Kinsale Road direct provision centre said he cannot access services without an address but cannot source his own place to live.

Prior to covid-19, he had been working at a restaurant and lost his job due to the pandemic, which he described as “a troublesome period”.

He received permission to remain in the country in 2021 and began searching for a place to live in May of that same year but said the housing crisis has meant he has been unsuccessful in doing so.

He explained that he is registered with Cork City Council for social housing but said that “landlords would not accept Hap [Housing Assistance Payment Scheme]”, a form of social housing support provided by local authorities.

According to Hap, landlords and agents are not legally required to rent to a person getting Hap.

They can choose any tenant for their property, however, they are not allowed to refuse to rent to someone just because they receive Hap.

He said that his only hope now to be successful in securing a home is to keep his current job but said that IPAS has told him that he will have to move from Cork which he said will force him to “lose everything”.

“Now, I find a job but IPAS send me four letters telling me I have to move and I don’t have any time to prepare for my move because I am working and if I lose this job then I lose all of my chances about a house, about everything,” he said.

“HAP is not working. With a job, yes maybe some landlords accept you if you are working but this proposition from IPAS to move you to a tent is not accommodation. It is terrible.”

He said he is being made to feel as though he is an alien and said there has been “no assistance, no information” and that he has had to do everything himself.

“I don’t have any existence in Ireland because I don’t have any address.

“If I accept the proposition to move to the tent, I find myself in the same situation as before because I will lose my job.

“My only chance to save my life is with a job because in Ireland if you’re not working there is no life.”

Vulnerable people 'let down'

A spokesperson for Community Action Tenants Union (Catu), a union for communities and tenants, including renters, council tenants, mortgage holders, and people in emergency and precarious living situations, told The Echo: “The State is letting down all vulnerable people, DP [direct provision] residents, people in emergency accommodation, those on council lists for 10-plus years, etc.

“There is no political will to make landlords comply with what is a legal obligation, accepting Hap.

“Relocation of people with permanent status in tents or military barracks, and the refusal of local authorities to take responsibility over them like with other residents, is discrimination.

“There is also no effective enforcement of rent control and it is increasingly impossible for everyone to source housing — people who have been desperately longing to exit DP are now fighting to stay there for a while because there is nothing else.”

Entitled 

A spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth recently told The Echo that those with status who have had their application for International Protection determined are “no longer considered applicants and therefore no longer entitled to Material Reception Conditions”.

“IPAS currently accommodates over 5,200 people that have been granted status (Refugee/Subsidiary Protection/Leave to Remain),” the spokesperson said.

“Those with status for the greatest length of time are being offered a transfer to alternative emergency accommodation so that those currently still in the International Protection process can be accommodated in our accommodation centres where they can receive supports.

“Those currently being offered this transfer have had status for at least 18 months.

“Due to the shortage of IPAS accommodation, it is not always possible to transfer those with Status for the greatest length of time to emergency accommodation close to where they currently reside.”

The spokesperson said that both the Ukraine Crisis Temporary Accommodation Team (UCTAT) and IPAS are operating in the context of “a severe accommodation shortage”.