Picture Brendan Gleeson
by Kathy Masterson
A MOTHER-of-five who is being forced to vacate her privately rented house staged a sit-in on Wednesday at City Hall as she says the local authority’s housing department has so far failed to offer her any suitable accommodation.
Grace Healy, who has been renting a property at Lissanalta Close in Dooradoyle through the rent allowance scheme for four years, is facing homelessness as the house is now in receivership.
The single mother, whose children are aged 13, 11, nine, seven and five, says that officials from the housing department at Limerick City and County Council told her late last year to move into the Suaimhneas hostel in Moyross with her children as they have no suitable homes for a family of their size.
“The housing department have never offered me anything, they just told me to go into a hostel in Moyross with my children. They say they don’t have any houses that can accommodate five children. So I said I’d go in there today and just sit in there all day until they tell me they have somewhere for me to go,” Ms Healy told the Limerick Post on Wednesday.
Ms Healy claims that housing department staff have told her “that there is no funding and they have nothing to offer me”.
She added: “I’m not expecting a house today, all I want is a proper answer. They have known about this since November 2 and they haven’t rang me once. This is supposed to be the housing department, so if they can’t help me then I don’t know why they’re open.
“I’m just looking for somewhere quiet for my kids to live, somewhere safe. I told the Council that I don’t want to live in a rough area, and they just told me that I’m being too fussy. I can’t take it anymore. I’ve tried everything and there is nothing out there in my price range.”
A spokesperson for Limerick City and County Council told the Limerick Post that they do not comment on individual cases and that local authority housing is allocated based on availability and on a case-by-case basis.
