Case study: ‘Last year was bad. It didn’t feel like Christmas’

Jacinta (11) and Chloe (17) and their family have been homeless for over a year, having lost their home in the private rented sector.

Now in supported emergency accommodation, they were in a B&B up until six months ago. Jacinta tells what it was like last Christmas. “We were worried Santa wouldn’t come, and the Christmas dinner. We were worried about the Christmas tree and my little brothers and sisters were worried about their presents.

“That B&B was no good because it was not like home. We were all in one room. There was nowhere to play. I had a scooter, a Flicker and I had to give it away. It made me feel bad. We had to give our little dog away. We had to give him to a man who is very good with dogs. A chihuahua. We’d had her three years. I was crying.

“The place we’re in now, it’s better than where we were. It’s like an apartment in a house. Mum can cook for us for supper time. I would like a house. Not even a big house. A roof and a door and a bed. A place we can stay and call our home.”

Worry

Chloe worries about her family. “I feel bad because I am looking at my baby sisters and I am worried about them. They were coming home crying saying about girls in their class sitting away from them because they’re homeless.

“I’d like a house, not even a big house, just a roof and a door and place we can be home.”

Sinead (12) who spoke to The Irish Times last year about being homeless, is in a private-rented house, with her family, since October.

“I have my own room now. I can hang up my Justin Bieber posters. I can play my music full blast. We have our kitchen now. We can cook what we want when we want. I missed stew, cabbage, sprouts. Last week Mam made bacon and cabbage , the whole thing. I loved that.

“Christmas last year was bad. It didn’t feel like Christmas. We opened the presents in the room and had a Christmas dinner, but it didn’t feel right.

“This year I’ll be able to wake up my little brother and we’ll sneak down and open the presents before everyone else. We’ll have a tree

“In the B&B the room was tiny. We were all killing each other, having rows. I worried every day that we might never get away from the B&B.

“Being in the B&B was the worst thing that ever happened in my life. Every time we go into town now my little sister, she starts saying: ‘We’re going back to the B&B’ and she starts crying.” Asked what having a house to live in now means to her, she says: “Freedom”.