Wexford mother sleeping in car so her child can continue to attend local school

A young mother in Wexford sleeps in her car so her child can continue attending a local school. Homeless families are often moved to bed-and-breakfast accommodation far from their home areas, requiring long travel to maintain school attendance. A councillor asked how many people are housed in bed and breakfasts and argued that the growing number of homeless people requires a permanent solution rather than continued short-term placements. Housing director Carolyne Godkin said the council has approximately 40 beds across Ozanam House and bed-and-breakfast arrangements, and the council focuses on returning people to sustainable tenancies. The chief executive said the permanent solution is construction of social housing, with targets met early and continued overproduction.

"A woman told me her two daughters are sleeping in their cars while they have their domestic appliances in a trailer, they don't want to go into a bed and breakfast at the other end of the county because it would prevent one of their children from continuing in school."

"We're paying a fortune for bed and breakfasts, would it not be wiser to have more long-term accommodation? The number of homeless people is not going down, it continues to grow, we should be looking for a permanent solution; we're going to need it."

"According to director of housing Carolyne Godkin, WCC has "approximately 40 beds" between Ozanam House (de Paul) and the bed and breakfasts it lets across the county, and while she sympathised with those who have been moved away from their local areas, she said the council's focus was "on getting people back into sustainable tenancies"."

""The permanent solution is the construction of social housing," he said. "We have met our social housing target years ahead of schedule and are continuing to over-produce, that will continue to be our focus.""

Read at Irish Independent