Young mum suspects discrimination in house search

A single mum, now pregnant with her second child, fears she’s being blackballed in her search for a new family home because of her circumstances.

“There is definitely a level of discrimination still out there,” believes Kaithlyn Lynch (21), who currently finds herself “couch-surfing” between two addresses in the Virginia area at present.

In any given week Kaithlyn shares an “already overcrowded” house with family, which “forces my little 13-year-old sister to give up her bed for me and she sleeps on the ground”. Otherwise she finds herself relying on the kindness of a family friend to accommodate her and her infant son, Harry.

The head count of the little two-bed cottage Kaithlyn’s family lives in swells to six once she and her son are there.

“It’s not fair on my little sister that she has to give up her bed. It’s not right,” she says. “Right now I’ve a bed and a sofa and I’ve [Harry’s] cot next to me. It’s not ideal, but it’s something.”

Forced to leave the settled circumstances she was in at the start of this year for personal reasons, Kaithlyn soon after applied to the council for help. She only received notice two weeks ago that she had been granted Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) as well as being placed on the social housing list.

Informed it could take six years or more before a property comes available, Kaithlyn’s experience of finding a new home quickly since the application was first made mirrors that of many other struggling families in Cavan.

As of Monday lunchtime, July 4, there were just seven properties available to rent. By Tuesday, several of those listings were already taken down, presumed rented.

The cheapest property was a two-bed apartment in Ballyconnell for a little under €800 per month, and the most expensive was a three-bed house for just above €1,500.

“I’ve viewed about a half dozen houses, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m coming to them with HAP, or that I’m a young 21-year-old mother with a small child and another on the way, but I’ve been getting nowhere.”

Losing battle

Despite being outlawed since 2016 under the Equal Status Acts, a report published earlier this year by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Ihrec) claimed the practice of systemic discrimination towards certain demographics still exists. Chief among those affected the ‘Housing Assistance and Discrimination – A Scoping Study on the ‘Housing Assistance Ground’ under the Equal Status Acts 2000-2018’ found were single-parents, Traveller, Roma and refugee households, as well as disabled persons.

Kaithlyn, who is due to give birth in the run up to Christmas this year, accepts no landlords or agents have explicitly refused her access to a house viewing based on her HAP eligibility or her parental status, but as the Ihrec states, such claims are difficult to prove.

“I’ve had letting agents not return emails after telling them I’m on HAP. You get a feeling they don’t want to rent to you or they’re being told not to. It’s not just single-parents I feel are getting this, it’s all young parents. I’ve even brought a deposit and first month’s rent to certain viewings, but still end up with nothing. There’s nothing more I feel I can do. I’ve been told more times the landlord has gone with someone else, maybe that they know personally,” claims Kaithlyn, who contacted the council’s homeless section to be informed she is not eligible for support there either. “I have to be living on the streets or be homeless for at least two weeks. But I currently don’t have a home. I’m between two addresses. How can you call that a home? It feels like I’m fighting a losing battle whatever way I turn.”

The entirety of the situation has played heavily on the mental health of the expectant Kaithlyn, who faces another “brick-wall” where prospective renters often also require a reference from a previous landlord.

“It’s been one of the most difficult periods of my life so far. I’ve been down in the dumps. I can see why there is a lot of mental health problems among young people in Ireland at present, that they feel there is no place for them in this world. I can see why they feel like that because I feel like that. If it wasn’t for my family I genuinely don’t know where I’d be,” she explains.

“Everything seems to be working against you if you’re a young person living in Ireland right now. If you don’t have [a prior reference] it seems you’re not even considered. How are you supposed to get a start in life? For yourself, for your family, how do you get a start if you’re not even given the opportunity? I’ve worked since I was 14-years-old. I went back to work a month-and-a-half after having an emergency c-section with [Harry]. If by the time I give birth, my due date is December 20, five days before Christmas, and I’m still living between the two properties I don’t know what [myself and Harry are] going to do.”