Ellen Kennedy says a for sale sign was erected outside her home in Ashbourne, Co Meath, the morning after the Government announced that the eviction ban will not be extended.
Ellen, a single mother of one who works full time and is receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment, now has until 31 March to vacate her home.
Speaking to RTÉ's This Week programme, Ellen said she feels she has nowhere to turn and is worried for herself and for her 12-year-old son.
"Literally the day after the eviction ban was not being extended, I literally got a knock on the door and there was two men putting up a 'For Sale' sign. I knew it was sort of coming but I was not expecting it literally the day after," she said.
"There's absolutely no houses to rent, there was a three-bedroom house in Ashbourne for €2,900 a month, who has that kind of money to rent?
"There was a house that came up in Ratoath, I did try go for that one but I was refused it from HAP for over less than €20 a week, they were saying I couldn't afford it. They have told me to move out further to the likes of Navan, Nobber, Trim.
"If I move out further, I'm away from my job, my son is further away from my school, his sporting activities, people that he knows. I would end up paying more money on petrol. The rents are still colossal in those areas. So it's not a case of move out further and get somewhere cheaper to rent," she said.
Ellen says she has been back and forth with Meath County Council.
"I originally got the eviction notice in March 2022. I had emailed Meath County Council and HAP straight away. HAP replied asking for a copy of my eviction notice.
"I heard from Meath County council ten months later after I emailed them again just before Christmas and again no reply. Then in January, I emailed them again, I cc'd everybody - all the local TDs including the Minister for Housing. It was only then that they started to reply to me.
"I had asked are there available properties, would they purchase the house, would they help me purchase the house - I'm here eight years in this house and I got one-word answers of 'no'," Ellen said.
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Speaking on the same programme, Chief Executive of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) David Carroll said the charity is readying itself for the weeks ahead as many people face homelessness when the eviction ban ends.
Although uncertain on how many people will present in the coming weeks, Mr Carroll said it is believed that it will be mostly families affected.
He called on landlords who can afford to delay evictions to do so and to make use of existing schemes, such as the tenant-in-situ scheme and the first refusal scheme.
"We need to be afforded the opportunity to be able to respond to this in as constructive a way as possible.
"We in de Paul are fully utilised at the moment in terms of temporary accommodation, but we're seeking ways in which we can look to move people on it in the available housing that is coming on board - social housing will be coming on stream".
He said that there was a need for a national homelessness response, along the lines of responses that were put in place during the pandemic and to assist Ukrainian refugees, but information must also be given to tenants facing eviction.
Ray Cooke of Ray Cooke Auctioneers and Lettings says there can be up to a thousand enquiries into one property alone.
"There's just not enough properties out there. If you advertise a standard property for rent in Dublin for €2,000 a month, within three or four days you'll have 500 to a thousand enquiries on that property," Mr Cooke said.
"We could have anywhere from 60 to a 120 properties available at any one stage so do the maths. We can't take all those phone calls so it's only email enquiries only. We will pick the potential tenants from those enquiries to come out and view it."
In the past few days, estate agent Claire Connolly says she has been inundated with calls from tenants facing eviction and landlords who want to sell up.
"We've had so many tenants ringing and begging me, looking for somewhere, anything that I have at all that's available to rent which I don't have unfortunately," she says.
"On the other side, a lot of my portfolio, are my landlords. On Friday I drew up three notices of termination for two in Australia and one in the UK and I've another one in the UK on Monday and another two Irish.
"One particular client who has a property in Dundrum who is more than fair to her tenants told me 'Why would I stay in the market? What it the point? After all the costs I'm coming in with a tiny rent'.
"So even outside of the eviction ban, the RPZ, unlimited duration, the eviction ban was the most bitter pill for landlords to swallow," according to Ms Connolly.
Joe Doyle, who runs We Buy Houses Dublin, is one such landlord, he agrees eviction bans are not the only reason as to why landlords are leaving the market.
"With the current changes over the last few years we've dramatically scaled back our plans for expanding into the rental market," he said.
"We were expanding for a number of years and now we've had to completely rethink the strategy because we don't know what's next.
"What would put us off from expanding is the constant uncertainty so we've gone from RTB registrations every four years to RTB registrations every 12 months, from a once off eviction ban to, I think this is our third now," Mr Doyle said.
Back in Ashbourne, Ellen says she feels there is nowhere to turn.
"I have no problem with a landlord selling, it's their choice. It's just there's nowhere to go and there's no help, there's little or no support for anyone to help you rent or to buy," Ellen said.
