A womyn, a mother’s survival 

““Property” means dominion over things and the denial to others of the use of those things. So long as production was not equal to the normal demand, institutional property may have had some raison d’être. One has only to consult economics, however, to know that the productivity of labor within the last few decades has increased so tremendously as to exceed normal demand a hundred-fold, and to make property not only a hindrance to human well-being, but an obstacle, a deadly barrier, to all progress. It is the private dominion over things that condemns millions of people to be mere nonentities, living corpses without originality or power of initiative, human machines of flesh and blood, who pile up mountains of wealth for others and pay for it with a gray, dull and wretched existence for themselves. I believe that there can be no real wealth, social wealth, so long as it rests on human lives — young lives, old lives and lives in the making.”

We have no choices and freedom in life.
Where women don’t have supports as it is. Ireland is a state, where politicians are rich, one in five are landlords, Ireland’s state is a capitalist, vulture haven, the judicial system - targets the vulnerable, those growing up around families trying to provide with no hope of stability, pressurizing families into poverty, can lead to abuse, drugs, and shopfligiting.

Precariat mother's struggles;

Mothers, lone mothers get just 217 euro a week to raise one child (an extra 30 euro if another child): nappies costing - 5-10 euro a week, food shopping, 60 - 100 a week (for a parent and one child), formula, 11 - 15 euro a week, or x2 (for earlier stages), bills 20 - 40 euro per week, electric/gas/heating - oil could me more. Rent? 26 euro or more (one parent and child). That’s not depending if you're living in your family's homes, in overcrowding, in a council house, or having to go homeless - because the pressure on your family and the council deeming you not at risk of homelessness/ hidden homeless. Or your homeless and some hotels/ b&bs charge you - could be up to 50 euro a week. You're either left with nothing else - having to deem what is a “luxury” or not. No prospects of being able to work because there is no childcare accessible for you until your child is three (It was only one free year of childcare last year).

The pressure is put on grandparents to mind children, that’s if people are “privileged” to have supportive families, whilst already trying to survive themselves. Homeless services welcome you with questioning whether you’re homeless or not, sending you off running around and relying on charities like FOCUS. The council and homeless services send you around papertrailing to prove “why you're homeless” - eviction letters/ family letters stating why you can’t stay anymore, on the floor - council homes, (this also including women running from abusive partners). Endless running around with your baby/kids and clothes. Numbers to call to try and access a hotel for a night, out again dragging your bags and belongings and bottles to feed your baby around on the streets. Not to mention if you're pregnant, you’re not even deemed a family yet, and told to call the freephone to access the hostels for homeless adults at night, it could be wet hostels, mixed, or sharing rooms with those with addictions.

Refuges taking in women, cameras, sign in and out, no visitors, not allowed stay in a friends for a night or you’re thrown out. No-one explaining what options/supports you can have/ “available” to you. Getting more information from Merchants quay - drug and abuse/ homeless (non profit voluntary service) than state homeless family services. It’s a black hole - getting deeper and deeper where you're just deemed invisible.

No key workers, just left to rot in b&bs and hotels. Women waiting for homes to be built, no funds for housing - yet the state paid 39 million euro for hostels, “emergency accommodation”. Imagine that to revamp/materials for the empty homes left to NAMA, private developers and rich landlords or inherited property left to rot and use it for public housing. It’s a real crime seeing all those well structured homes that some would only need a lick of paint and new flooring.

Peter Mc Verry Trust put out statistics lately on how many homes empty per homeless person, there are“13 per homeless person”. This is obviously not counting the empty properties owned by landlords, or in receivership. If I calculated the number of adults in homelessness - 4,648 by the number of all vacant properties in Ireland - we get over 18 empty properties per homeless person.
We also have 139,359, people on the social housing lists across ireland, and again nearly 250,000 vacant properties. If we opened up these empty properties, for the homeless and on the social housing lists there would still be 105,993 empty properties left over. Enough to help migrants, and all live prosperous lives. Except no, we’re not allowed ask questions about the other properties that aren’t just Nama - what about those greedy landlords?

A lot of families accepted HAP who were on the rent supplement, on as little as 1000 euro up to 1100 per month with no support when landlords were increasing rent, or having to be in rented accommodation for at least 6 months to avail rent supplement. To families in overcrowding, mothers living with abusive partners - all having to go homeless. This is not how it should work.

Whether you were with RAS, Rent Supplement or homeless, “The place finders”, a homeless service and councils pushed you into accepting HAP - Housing Assistance Payment, a scheme paid by the council to private landlords, it took you off the immediate social housing list, and you’re only given a window of two weeks to apply to be put on a transfer to access permanent housing, a home and on a, “slow hidden list”. What a way to wash over the social housing list, and decrease the urgency of those in need of their own HOME.

It’s not quite sure how many are on HAP, however in the Dail it was asked what the expenditure on the scheme for 2016 would be - €153 million on HAP scheme. - paid to private landlords it will add for an additional 15,000 families under HAP, Simon Convey for housing claimed there is 17,000 currently on HAP. When an avg wait for social housing a few years back was 10 years, what about those in their thousands who were forced into HAP - put on a “transfer” lists, taken off the immediate council list?

How does this make sense? It’d make you wonder the expenditure on hotels/B&B’s for those homeless in 2016 - 39 million euro- an increase to 100 million euro for 2017
And the costs given to private landlords - €153 million.
And the state funding 200 million euro’s towards private developers - to build in urban areas or for HAP, and hotels. It is a profitable business for those behind the hotels/hostels and developers.

If you calculate this ends up 192 million euro was for temporary accommodation/ including temporary homes - private leases/HAP scheme.

The budget announced for 2017, €1.2 billion will be used for housing, but the bulk of it will be towards “rapid housing”, modular housing (sheds) - which isn’t up to any standards.

We have landlords - rising rent by 6% - given permission by the state in the “budget”, however not to be implemented till after March, although they went ahead and risen rents despite. Sure one of our biggest landlords in Ireland: Ires Reit - risen rents by 12% despite regulations by the state, and their large investor/backing is Canadian’s biggest landlords, “property investment” group, Capreit with over 30 employees in Dublin managing its portfolio.

As we know on this island and with our comrades struggling internationally politicians lie, their false promises and “budgets” - tightening the belts/ or announcing 1.2 billion towards “housing”, is pretty vague. To be honest, we know it will fail to materialise/ develop into action. Our past and current lives under the state is evident.

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