Travellers being forced into homelessness at 'an alarming rate', report finds
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Hidden homelessness is a growing problem for many Travellers and a new report also suggests the number of Travellers experiencing homelessness is hugely underestimated.
The report, launched on Tuesday by the Cork and Kerry Regional Traveller Accommodation Working Group (RTAWG), says the provision and supply of Traveller accommodation has reached a "critical level", with increasing numbers of Travellers forced into homelessness at "an alarming rate".
The report, which focuses on Cork and Kerry, also says the definitions of homelessness and of overcrowding should be changed to more accurately reflect the often congested and substandard level of accommodation used by members of the Traveller community.
"Despite these bleak statistics, the reality is, in fact, much worse, as the Government’s Homelessness Count statistics obscure the reality of homelessness and accommodation conditions within the Traveller community and fail to recognise that those having to live in overcrowded and highly unsuitable conditions are, in fact, homeless owing to their status as hidden homeless," it said.
"The failure of local authorities to provide suitable Traveller-specific accommodation options has resulted in a situation where Travellers are forced to live in overcrowded and unsafe conditions or be forced into homelessness.
"Many Travellers find it impossible to access private rented accommodation – those who do have to hide their identity and risk eviction when the landlord discovers that they are Travellers."
The report looks at the causes and impact of hidden homelessness on the Traveller Community in the South West of Munster, incorporating Cork City and county and Kerry, using data collected in the spring and summer of 2018 with the assistance of the UCC School of Applied Social Studies and Dr Samantha Morgan-Williams of the Traveller Equality and Justice Project.
In 2019, there were 42 families in unauthorised sites, and 129 families sharing housing in Kerry, Cork City and Cork county.
Dr Morgan-Williams said 22% of the people surveyed were identified as homeless under the current legalised definition, but if the European Typology of Homelessness and housing exclusion (Ethos) standard used by the European agency Feantsa was used, the figure was 85%. That definition includes inadequate or insecure housing.
The RTAWG said there needed to be a culturally appropriate response for Traveller homelessness, along with a dedicated budget.
"This could include family-specific hubs complete with family supports, serviced halting sites for temporary and emergency accommodation for young couples (in Kerry in particular) which could be used as emergency accommodation, and increased usage of emergency powers available to local authority county managers to provide emergency accommodation to the high number of families living on roadsides in the South-West Region," it said.
The report also pinpointed how local authorities can cause homelessness. It referenced cases where newly-wed Traveller couples resort to pulling a trailer in the yard or driveway of a house and as a result are sometimes taken to court.
"Recently, a couple were threatened with the trailer being impounded if it was not disposed of and barred from staying with family on the particular council property in question. The court accepted that doing so resulted in unsafe and overcrowded conditions and granted the council the order. The result of this, however, was that the young couple had to reside in their car as they were unable to find housing elsewhere."
The report also outlines problems with choice-based letting housing allocation.
“My partner and I had to move into my parents bay with the young baby and three kids. We’re on the housing list for nine years but have no idea how far up the list we are. We were living at the side of the road but we kept getting moved on. We lived in the car for a while and were in hotels. We decided to move back here as the hotels weren’t right for children. All of us in the one room on top of each other.
"There are now three families living in the one bay. You can imagine how busy it gets on school mornings. The children can’t have friends over and they’re embarrassed. We just want our own space.”
“We managed to get a small apartment, we didn’t tell him we were Travellers as we didn’t want any trouble and we had the money and everything. One day, I met him when I was leaving with the baby. He was angry and stopped me and asked if we had lied and were we Travellers? I didn’t answer, I was too scared.
"When we came home he had changed the locks and won’t answer our calls. Everything we own is in there – I don’t know what to do.”
"My story is I am a mother of six children, four of whom are school-going and living with us. We had been in private rented accommodation when the landlord gave us notice to leave. It was impossible to find other rented accommodation because there is so little available and I believe when they knew we were Travellers, that made it so much harder even though we had very good references. It is the different tone of voice or the silence that you just know they have reacted negatively.
"We ended up in holiday accommodation for weeks, living out of suitcases as the agreement with the rental company was only on a week-by-week basis. The children suffered and every morning before going to school they would ask me ‘where would we be sleeping tonight' and I will never forget the stress of it all. Not knowing what was going to happen or where we would go was absolute hell.
"The local council kept insisting that we would need to move to another town as there was no accommodation locally. They were saying we had to have a four-bedroomed house, even when we were happy to stay local and in a three-bedroomed house. I kept refusing to move to another town on the basis that I didn’t drive, my younger children were getting extra support and doing really well in school and that my teenage boy had great support, lots of friends, was happy to attend school and my partner was working locally too.
"The council does not take all these important aspects of life into account. My mental health was suffering and I was exhausted trying every day to find accommodation for my family, knowing that there was a new social housing estate being built locally and that we weren’t even being considered for them.
"I really believe it was the fact that I got great support from my local Traveller organisation and two local TDs, who wrote letters to the housing authority in support of me and my family that we were granted one of the new houses.
"The difference having our own home now is amazing, I can’t describe how happy and secure we feel now. I just wish that the council would understand the discrimination we face and make it easier to apply to be on the housing list first of all and then be more helpful when looking for accommodation."