A Cavan mother has made a heartfelt plea for landlords to give people a “simple chance at living.”
Caithlyn Lynch from Virginia is a single mother with a young child and another on the way who fears she will be made homeless due to the current housing crisis in Ireland.
She says it is a “struggle” to find permanent accommodation, and feels young people on the HAP scheme are discriminated against when trying to become first time renters.
While the 21-year-old was “approved” for social housing, she was advised to go down the private rental route, as she could be waiting “six years” on the social housing waiting list.
As this is Caithlyn’s first time trying to access the rental market, she claims landlords “won’t even consider” those who don’t have a reference from a previous landlord, which has left her family in a state of limbo, having applied for 40 possible houses but has been unsuccessful each time.
The expecting mother also revealed that at one point, she was advised to declare herself “homeless” in the hope of receiving emergency accommodation.
Caithlyn added that the official advice went as far to suggest that she would have to “go on the streets for a week or two” in order to even be considered for the emergency “homeless” accommodation.
Speaking to Northern Sound, she said, “It would not be suitable to put my 15 month old baby on the streets for any period of time, and I shouldn’t have been advised to even do so.
“We’re sleeping in between two houses at the moment, both of which are already over-crowded, which is putting added strain on other family members.
“When possible, I work late nights and early mornings for extra income but have not been able to so due to the circumstances I am now in.”
When asked what her message would be, Caithlyn stated, “I just want landlords to be more reasonable for first time renters. It just seems impossible to live in Ireland right now.
“I can’t fix the housing crisis in the country. Landlords try to avoid dealing with people who receive support from HAP, but we’re not all bad people.
“Some of us have no other option and all we want is a simply chance at living.”
