Lone-parent migrant families face discrimination, racism, and unaffordable rents

Research & key findings

Our new peer-led research has found that lone-parent migrant families with legal status in Ireland are being forced to leave Direct Provision and their communities with no realistic way of securing housing.

Between Hope and a Home, documents how lone parents – most of them women – face discrimination, unaffordable rents, inadequate supports, and inconsistent local authority practices that leave families effectively trapped between Direct Provision and homelessness.

The key findings of the report are that despite having the right to live in Ireland, lone parents experienced racism in the rental market, the impossibility of finding housing within Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) limits, and the distress of receiving eviction letters that uprooted children from schools and community supports.

The report makes clear that while Ireland’s wider housing crisis affects everyone, it does not do so equally. For lone-parent migrants – often black women, and women who feel isolated and are juggling care, work, trauma and unfamiliar systems – the barriers are multiplied.

Government action needed

ActionAid Ireland is urging Government to take immediate action, including:

Ending the practice of moving families away from schools and communities when they receive status and stopping the transfer of parents with children into emergency centres.
Urging local authorities not to apply the Local Connection Test to people exiting Direct Provision as instructed by the Housing Agency.
Raising HAP limits so they reflect actual rental costs.
Strengthening and resourcing Local Authority Integration Teams to provide tailored, housing-specific support.
Tackling discrimination in the private rental sector through enforcement and public awareness.
Embedding gender and equality analysis in all housing and integration policies, recognising the disproportionate impact on migrant women and lone parents.

Lone-parent voices

Eve, a mother of three, summarised the feelings of most of those who took part in the research when speaking about how the government seems to not recognise how challenging it is to secure housing in Ireland

“It seems to me that they’re not aware, if it is hard for the local people, it is three, four times harder for us. So, their approach should be a little bit more human. Not that we are special but a less downgrading treatment. Like typically, an Irish person, they have families, they have friends, they have, you know, local connections.”

Eve

A mother of three

Other Voices

“I feel like they look at colour or other times they just read your surname and never get back to you”

“When I see a house they tell me they don’t want HAP. Man, the landlord would tell me they don’t want HAP, the ones I see are expensive, and I can’t afford”

“I remember the shock, of oh God where do I start from, where am I going to, how will I do this, so it’s so stressful”

“Meet Them” a multimedia celebration of lone parents

Alongside the research, ActionAid Ireland also launched Meet Them, a photography exhibition focused on six women who are part of Paving the Way, an ActionAid Ireland project supporting migrant lone parents. Photographed by Beta Bajgart, each portrait reflects how the women chose to be seen, with the accompanying guide written by the women themselves.