Mercy Law Resource Centre Launch of Report
TITLE: Excluded and Left Behind: The Lived Experience of Long-Term Family Homelessness on Minority Ethnic Families and the Effects on Their Children
Where: Wisdom Centre, 25 Cork Street, Dublin 8
When: Tuesday, 10 September 2024, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, K.C., IHREC
Introduction
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you this morning, and I’d like to take this opportunity to offer congratulations on the work that you have done in the past year with the award granted by IHREC. I look forward to hearing the presentations you will be making today.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Caoilfhionn Gallagher, I’m a human rights lawyer and I am speaking to you here today as a Commissioner with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. In my work as a human rights lawyer over the past 20 years I have acted for many children who are street homeless or living in unsuitable accommodation, and last year I was appointed as Ireland’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, so I take particular interest in the contents of this well researched, though often heart-breaking, report on the lived experience of homelessness on minority ethnic children and their families.
The Right to a Home
We all know that every child deserves a safe, stable home. It is a basic need for children, and for their families, if they are to have an equal opportunity to develop into healthy, happy adults. We also know that, as a State and society, we are failing many, many families and their children in this regard, with unimaginable long term consequences.[1]
Earlier this year, in a report to the UN, IHREC made clear our concerns about the chronic undersupply of housing in the market, the unprecedented levels of homelessness, and the persistent issues in securing the right to culturally appropriate and quality accommodation for structurally vulnerable groups.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the basic human rights to which every child is entitled. These include the right to food and shelter and access to medical services. They also include rights such as education, the right to be protected from abuse or neglect, as well as the right to take part in social and cultural activities. Article 27 of the UNCRC is a key lynchpin, recognising the inter-relationship between a child’s standard of living and the realisation of the child’s other rights. It provides that children should be able to live in a way which helps them reach their full physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. For this to happen, they must have access to adequate food and housing. Good nourishment and nutrition are essential for children and young people to reach their full potential, while safe, suitable and well-maintained housing is vital to ensure children’s development.
That is why all of the rights of the child protected under the UNCRC are severely curtailed when a child and their family experience persistent homelessness.
The right to adequate housing is also a key element of international human rights agreements. However, the State continues to fail to meet its obligations to provide people with decent and appropriate housing.[2]
We saw this in the most recent figures from the Department of Housing for July, with 10,028 adults and 4,401 children in emergency accommodation. And these figures do not include those who are sleeping rough or couch surfing, nor do they include homeless people in hospitals and prisons, those in Direct Provision centres, or homeless households in domestic violence refuges.
So, the numbers of families who are affected by prolonged homelessness are obviously much higher than these statistics suggest. And of course, behind those numbers are men, women and children who are suffering in ways that many of us can only begin to imagine.
In addition, Travellers, the Roma community and migrants are hugely over–represented in the homeless statistics, and at a severe disadvantage in the Irish housing system.[3]
The value of ‘Lived Experience’ research
The value of researching people’s lived experience when developing policy cannot be overstated. It is absolutely crucial to the process. When we attempt to address issues such as persistent homelessness, it is essential that we put the voices and experiences of those who are directly impacted at the centre of all decision making.
Because we know that statistics and data can only tell us so much. And in this report you have given a voice to those who often go unheard. Yet these families and children are best placed to highlight the very real failings, obstacles and unintended consequences in our current system. But unfortunately, lived experienced is not as central to policy making as it should be. As you say, “The lack of recognition and understanding of how the lived experiences of homelessness affects families and children impacts significantly on their well-being.”
The research that you are presenting today clearly shows how inequalities experienced by minority ethnic children can combine with institutional barriers and in turn, prolong and exacerbate homelessness for these children and their families.
And reading through this report what stood out most for me was the testimony of the family members who shared their experiences of homelessness.
It’s not easy reading. There are stories of having no cooking or washing facilities, of families trying to provide lunches and dinners for children, to get them to different schools that are miles apart, with no car or suitable public transport. This is a life characterised by having no privacy, no space, no garden or park for your child to play in.
There is ‘Luca’, from the Roma community, who spoke of her difficulties trying to provide any type of food for her 5 children, without cooking facilities. She tells of how her 2-year-old struggled with very delayed speech and language, and how she attributed this to the effects of living in emergency accommodation for such a prolonged period.
We hear from lone parent Amir, whose wife and other children cannot join him and his young son in Ireland because of their current living conditions, nor can they visit them, as they would lose their accommodation due to restrictions on staying away.
We meet Brigid, a Traveller woman with 4 children under the age of 9. A survivor of domestic violence, for 5 months her family shared one room, with no washing or cooking facilities and no play areas for the children, and we believe her when she says: “It was very hard. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”
Amir described how emergency accommodation affected his own child, saying he remained in their room alone without friends, as there are no other children of the same nationality in the hotel and there are no play facilities in the hotel. This is the life of a child, in Ireland – one of the wealthiest countries in the world – in 2024.
The negative effect of having to live like this for extended periods, on already vulnerable parents and children can be devastating, and the lack of cultural supports – or even the acknowledgment of the need for them, can make what is already an appalling situation infinitely worse.
Many of our minority ethnic children already feel like outsiders, and the stigma of homelessness can further alienate them from their peers and society, eroding their self-esteem, isolating them and making it difficult for them to participate fully in society.
How did we get here?
In 2012, following a referendum, an article stating that, “the State recognises and affirms the natural and imprescriptible rights of all children and shall, as far as practicable, by its laws protect and vindicate those rights” was incorporated into the Irish Constitution.
But today, though I acknowledge that there have been a number of significant steps taken in respect of child welfare in recent years, there exists what I call “a realisation gap”. That is, there is genuine commitment to children’s rights in principle, but in practice there remain significant difficulties. And it is clear that persistent homelessness, and how it impacts minority ethnic families and their children, is a particularly pernicious issue, requiring a major, multi-faceted, whole-of-government approach.
In IHREC we have repeatedly recommended that responses to homelessness must focus on the long-term housing needs of families, as emergency accommodation cannot become normalised and families institutionalised.[4]
We believe that the State must prioritise rights-based legislative reform to underpin sustainable progress in the delivery of homes, including in the areas of planning, evictions, and the introduction of statutory minimum standards for all forms of accommodation.
The Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty
Here, I would also like to say a few words about the role of the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty (the Public Sector Duty) in the delivery of public services. In this instance, the experience of minority ethnic families Ireland as they try to access appropriate and affordable housing and supports, often in times of great trauma.
As you know, the Duty is part of the legislative framework governing human rights and equality in Ireland and is contained in Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014. In short, the Duty seeks to place equality and human rights at the heart of how public bodies fulfil their purpose and deliver on their functions.
The Duty means, that in practice, public bodies – including housing authorities – must have regard to equal opportunity, the protection of human rights and the elimination of discrimination in the performance of their purpose and functions. This includes the provision of emergency housing and long term social housing. This is challenging, but neither is it voluntary.
The issues faced by minority ethnic families in trying to access to both emergency and longer term social housing, highlight the need for mainstreaming human rights and equality into policy development and decision-making processes across the relevant offices of the Public Sector.
This means ensuring that marginalised groups, such as the families and children who have shared their lived experiences in this report, have a strong voice in policy development and decision-making processes and that policies are adequately aligned with human rights principles
The main advantages of the integration of the Duty into the governance of all public bodies in the State is that human rights and equality considerations are woven into new policies from the outset rather than treating them as separate components at a later stage when an issue has already arisen.
In helping public bodies to meet their obligations under the Duty, evidence is critical, and the voice of service users, essential.. And this is why the report you are launching today is so important.
Everyone, especially children, should have the right to live somewhere with security, peace and dignity. The State has a responsibility to meet international standards to achieve this. The Public Sector Duty obliges housing authorities to put human rights and equality at the core of their service delivery. It can also go some way to addressing the specific challenges facing minority ethnic families and children as they to escape from the poverty trap of long-term homelessness and gain access to appropriate support systems.
Thank you for your attention this morning and for the excellent work you have done in producing this r
[1] https://www.ihrec.ie/housing-homelessness-and-extreme-poverty-crises-violate-economic-social-and-cultural-rights-in-ireland-commission-reports-to-un/
[2] https://www.ihrec.ie/council-of-europe-finds-ireland-remains-in-breach-of-human-rights-obligations/
[3] https://www.ihrec.ie/lone-parents-among-most-disadvantaged-in-irelands-housing-system/
[4] https://www.ihrec.ie/app/uploads/2017/07/The-provision-of-emergency-accommodation-to-families-experiencing-homelessness.pdf
