A 78-year-old woman who is three weeks away from being made homeless has told RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne that she does not know where she and her disabled husband will be after they leave the home they have rented for six or seven years in Dublin.
Micheline Walsh explained that she always rented and before Covid-19 was working part-time and rent was within reach with two pensions.
However, during the pandemic she lost her part-time job as an administrator for a language school.
The landlord of the house she has been living in is selling the property and she and her husband were given six months' notice to leave.
The property fell under the recent eviction ban as the original leaving date was 28 November.
Ms Walsh explained that the couple was in receipt of rent supplement but, she said, that does not move with you from property to property, and six weeks ago they qualified for the Housing Assistance Payment, but have had no luck finding a property where HAP is accepted.
She added that she registered for the housing list, which was a major effort she said, but she does not expect to get a social house "in her lifetime". She also looked for housing solutions for older people on health grounds for her husband, but they take tenants from the council, she said.
Her husband had a stroke and lost some sight in each eye, he cannot read and he is not steady on his feet as one side of his body seizes up and he gets seizures, Ms Walsh said.
She added that due to his brain damage, he needs constant care, patience and attention he lives "in his own bubble" as he is not operating in the real world.
"When we start to talk about it (becoming homeless) he gets very anxious and very disturbed, that’s when the possibility of seizures come up".
She said she feels "shameful" and "embarrassed" and feels she did not do something in life that she should have, and she questions why she is in this position.
"Why am I at this stage in my life and not able to pay my rent? I thought that’s the job of the State, to look after the vulnerable ... obviously not".
Preparing for what is going to happen
On publicising her plight, Ms Walsh said that she knows there are other people of her age group who understood homelessness to be someone on the side of the street, or think of emotional images of evictions during the famine, which are all linked in people's minds to being dirty, unable to clean yourself and having nowhere to sleep.
She added that she had not told neighbours due to her embarrassment.
She said she has started to get rid of belongings such as books, papers and is selling furniture to prepare for what is going to happen.
She said that if she was to live with family, this would mean that they would not be considered homeless plus nobody has room, not even on a couch.
"(With my husband) it’s not fair to do that to someone else’s home arrangement and relationship. You can’t expect someone else to put up with that."
She said that she is staying in her current accommodation until the end of May but "there is nowhere" else to go. She has been told by the council that she was likely to get her own room in a hostel once she is homeless.
It feels like I'll disappear or something
"I just can’t see how I’m going to manage or how long it’s for ... It’s unthinkable ... will I have to phone the next day if I need another night?"
She said: "I don’t know what hostels are like ... It feels like I’ll disappear or something."
She has also found she is running around in circles since November with the local council.
"Realistically speaking, how many years will I have left? I haven’t got time to wait on the list ... I just feel like I don’t exist, it’s a strange feeling."
Government not acting like this is a crisis, says son-in-law
Her son-in-law, Professor of Politics at UCD David Farrell, said that his mother-in-law’s case gives him a new perspective on some of the failings of the political system with the number of homeless people.
Since Saturday's Irish Times article, co-written by him and his mother-in-law, he said that there had been a positive response and some politicians have said they are prepared to step in to help.
He said that if he takes his in-laws into his home, they are no longer an issue for the system. He said it would work short-term but it would not be easy and in the medium- to long-term and is not a viable option.
Prof Farrell added that he feels powerless and a sense of shame that the family is at fault in some way, but that they have to keep reminding themselves that it is not their fault and they have not caused the problem.
On the crisis in general, he said that there was a contrast in Covid-19 in terms of the sense of an emergency and joined-up thinking day-by-day.
He said that homelessness is referred to as a crisis, but the Government is not acting in that way, as all of the responsibility is on the minister for housing but not other relevant departments like social welfare, health or education.
"How do we know that every local authority is operating with the same degree of urgency and who is trying to co-ordinate that sort of thing?
"With Micheline’s case, are the different bits of the local authority talking to each other. There is a lack of a sense of client-centred approach."
He said each family or individual should be looked at on a case-by-case basis rather than being sent pillar to post.
He said that he hoped that going public with this case will help others around the country facing homelessness who need assistance.
A 78-year-old woman who is three weeks away from being made homeless has told @TodaywithClaire she doesn't have 'time to wait on the list' for accommodation | Read more: https://t.co/H7rUWraee5 pic.twitter.com/3TEdL8th0q
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 8, 2023
'Eminently fixable'
Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin has said that "emergency action" is required to deal with homelessness which is impacting older people in particular.
"I don't see why it would not be possible for Government to say; 'we’d like to end older person homelessness as quickly as possible,’" Mr O’Broin told RTÉ’s Drivetime.
He said that he was dealing "with a number of very similar cases" in his constituency.
"One of the things that has concerned me greatly is that despite the fact that Micheline got her notice back in June, at no stage did anyone from the State authorities sit her and her family down and explain what the possible solutions were."
Mr Ó Broin said: "No person who has worked hard their entire lives should face the prospect of losing their home or living in a hostel.
"This is eminently fixable if there’s a political will."
