We will be homeless in two days, my kids are in tears all the time and we have nowhere to go, says Dublin dad
A DAD has told how his family will be homeless by the weekend if they can't find somewhere to live.
Alan Fitzpatrick, from Dublin, and his family have been living in the same house for 11 years.
"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."
The dad-of-three continued: “No one is helping us and by Friday we are out of the house.
"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."
Alan 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.”
In a statement to The Star, Focus Ireland said: “Most of these individuals already get a HAP payment, which is meant to cover their housing needs but is blatantly failing to do so.
"They can receive some assistance from our competent front-line workers, but we are constantly up against ineffective policies.
"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,”
PLEA FOR HELP
Earlier this month, another Dublin mum-of-four was pleading for help to avoid becoming homeless for a second time, saying: “I’m terrified and frustrated.”
Loren Fetherston, 31, has been living with her four kids in a two-bed apartment in Tallaght for the last seven years having previously spent eight months homeless in hotel accommodation.
But now the family of five have until August 24 to find a new place to live after being given notice-to-quit by their landlord.
The mum said the fear of being homeless again is causing havoc with her mental health and has also impacted on her children.
Speaking to the Irish Sun she said: “I finally thought I had found a place where we could really settle and we could stop worrying about things like this, but then seven years down the line and our landlord has decided she doesn’t want to be a landlord anymore.
“I notified Fingal Council in February when I got the notice, and they said there was nothing they could do at the moment.
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“They said I would just have to wait it out and when it comes to the time of leaving to contact the number for emergency accommodation."
She added: “I feel completely let down. I just can’t face being homeless again – not while trying to raise four children.”