Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

The connections between the housing crisis, homelessness and domestic violence have been shown over and over again. The state of the housing emergency is having direct impacts on women and their children being unable to flee situations of violence. Indeed, front-line domestic violence services repeatedly raise concerns that the housing crisis is forcing victims to either stay with the perpetrator or enter homelessness services because of the lack of appropriate supports. Then, these mothers decide that bringing their children into homelessness or inappropriate emergency accommodation would further traumatise the children, so they go into hidden homelessness. They become couch surfers and try to stay with families and friends, where they can, and they are not counted. Those in domestic violence refuges are not counted in our official homelessness figures. They are hidden. They are not being considered sufficiently. When they are in hidden homelessness, they are absolutely not prioritised.

We have a housing crisis that is worsening this crisis and epidemic of domestic violence. We need to see local authorities that are trauma-informed and that understand that this needs to be a priority. When families present to them as being homeless and coming from domestic violence, they need to be believed, rather than, as I have heard, instances where they are turned away and asked if they have somewhere to stay because the local authorities have no emergency accommodation available. It is absolutely unacceptable that those who are fleeing violence are not being supported by the State to be able to leave situations of violence. The housing disaster is making Ireland less safe for those who are suffering domestic violence.

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