A young family who have been made homeless managed to secure emergency accommodation at the 11th hour which means they won’t be on the streets for the weekend.
Alan Fitzpatrick, 37, his wife Kelly, 30, their two boys Jack, 10, and six year old Bobby and Alan’s daughter from a previous relationship, Kasey, 17, had to hand back the keys to the landlord of their HAP rented house in Dublin’s Clondalkin.
The landlord had given them eight months notice before the planned eviction which happened through no fault of the family.
Read More: Record levels of homelessness in Ireland as 'distressing' new figures published
They have been canvassing local TDs and South Dublin County Council since January to help find them alternative accommodation but to no avail. They have been on the local authority housing list for the past 11 and a half years.
The three children are due to start back at their schools in Clondalkin on Monday morning after the summer break - but they feared they would be left sleeping on the streets as up until yesterday afternoon they had nowhere to go.
Yesterday morning, they were informed by South Dublin County Council and the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive there were no spaces available in emergency accommodation for the family of five and there were no hotel spaces either.
This comes as figures show a new record of 10,568 men, women and children homeless in the country.
That left the family in a frantic situation where they feared they’d be sleeping on the streets.
However, by yesterday afternoon, a room became available in a Dublin city hotel under emergency accommodation which the family accepted.
“It’s not nice having to pack your bags, pack up everything and leave a house you were in for 11 years and have nowhere to go,” Alan told The Star yesterday.
“It was a very hectic and stressful morning and afternoon and thankfully through the help of Sinn Fein’s Mark Ward we managed to get a hotel for the weekend,” said a relieved Alan.
Sinn Fein’s Mark Ward, who was homeless from November 2016 to March 2017, said the homeless crisis is “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
“Alan, Kelly and myself spent all yesterday ringing around trying to find them emergency accommodation,” he told the Star.
“In the end we managed to secure accommodation until Monday morning in a city centre hotel - which is not ideal for a young family but it is better than nothing for the time being.”
“Alan and Kelly’s situation is happening everywhere, behind the record 10,568 figure is a homeless family or a homeless person. "It impacts on the whole community who are worried sick where their friends are going to end up.
"This young family still doesn't know where they will be come Monday when the kids go back to school," he said.
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