An East Belfast mum has opened up about the "terrifying" prospect of becoming homeless in less than a month, especially given her husband's health difficulties and child's special educational needs.
Melissa Monaghan-Hunter spoke to Belfast Live about her fears for her four-year-old son Owen's safety and her concern at one potential scenario of having to live in hostel accommodation with him.
Owen is non-verbal and is awaiting an autism diagnosis, but has received his special educational needs letter for schools placement.
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Melissa's husband Joe has fibromyalgia and his condition has deteriorated to the point where he can no longer work - the family is registered with Universal Credit.
They are going through the process of seeking DLA for Owen and are looking at PIPs assessments for Joe, but that could take months, with Melissa having to care for Owen full-time.
She said they were living in fear of what would happen once their private rental agreement ends on 23 June.
"It's absolutely terrifying that a small few changes in your life, you know, hardships and you find yourself asking for help from our local government or whatever and there's there's nothing out there for anybody," she said.
"All you're met with is this line that it's the way the system is."
The family met with the Housing Executive last Friday, but said they are none the wiser as to where they might end up once they have to move out of the rented property.
Melissa said they are currently trying to find out how many points they have been allocated as a result of their case but that it was proving difficult to chart a path with so much uncertainty.
"Being homeless is not enough, apparently there's degree of homelessness, that you have to then go through for extra points," she said.
"We don't find out until the day where we're going what happens and we could end up anywhere in Belfast, we don't know the length of time and it might not even be Belfast.
"See if they could have said, 'Look, you're going to go and it's going to be this hostel for a month or this hostel for two months, then I could try and plan my family's life and especially Owen's needs for that space of time.
"But to be told no information whatsoever. It just plays with everyone's mental health. And I just can't keep my son safe in some environments."
Melissa said she felt totally let down by the system and she was at her wit's end about what to do.
"I think their (Housing Executive) hands are tied with with the policies that are happening that they have to follow," she added.
"But I think that they could make life a whole lot easier if they just told you plain and simple. And the plain facts instead of just the promises on the day that you apply.
"And then to be told about 20 days before you're about to become homeless that you don't meet special criteria and there's pretty much nothing that can be done."
Owen has been given the offer of a place in an East Belfast school starting from September and given his additional needs and the difficulty in finding provision for SEN children, Melissa is keen not to lose that.
"As you know, obviously, the recent reports and stuff that there's so many kids with special education that that haven't got a spot for P1 this year," she said.
"So we're one of the very lucky few that have got a spot for him for P1, so if they think that I would give up that kind of spot, they are mistaken.
"There's no way I'm not in his education. Like it's needed education, not only for just p one, but for his development for the long run."
She also said she couldn't understand the points system applied to those facing homelessness and said she felt like they were being forced to go above and beyond to show how vulnerable their position was.
"My husband had a really rough time from 2020, he was in a mental health facility for two weeks.
"And then he had another breakdown and even now, he still has to collect his medication every week, because he is still classed as a suicide risk.
"But yet we're not vulnerable enough, I don't know how vulnerable you have to be."
The Housing Executive said it was aware of the situation and was assisting the family.
“This family presented to us informing us that their landlord had asked them to vacate their current property on June 23," a spokesperson said.
“We explained the process for homeless support to the family and applied the general housing points in their case.
“As they were advised, their homeless case was opened last Friday (May 26), on receipt of relevant documentation and homeless points have been awarded, which reflects their situation.
“The family are currently on the social housing waiting list with homeless points awarded.
“Should a suitable property become available in their areas of choice and they have enough housing points to secure this, this will be offered to them.
“This can take place at any stage between now and the date they are due to leave their property.
“If they are still in search of a property at the date by which there are due to leave their current property, we will seek temporary accommodation at that stage.
“Our duty will also extend to storing any property the family have, if applicable.
“All this activity is in line with the legislation governing homelessness in Northern Ireland.
“Our staff remain available for any additional advice they may need.”
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