Refugees 'can't find accommodation'

More than 2,500 refugees who have the same housing entitlements as Irish citizens are being forced to remain in reception centres and hostels because they are unable to find alternative accommodation, a conference in Dublin heard yesterday.

Mr Joe Moran, manager of the Clann Housing Association, said about 2,000 refugees or successful asylum applicants were living in hostels or emergency bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Dublin, while a further 500-600 remained in reception centres around the country. "These people have rights to accommodation on the same basis as Irish people but have nowhere to go."

He added that in the absence of sufficient social housing or private rented accommodation to enable refugees to move on, "we are setting up them up, as a group, to be marginalised".

Mr Moran was speaking at Housing and Refugees: A New Challenge, a conference at Dublin Castle, organised by Clann and attended by local authority and health board representatives, refugees and voluntary groups.

The event highlighted a series of problems encountered by refugees seeking accommodation, including discrimination by landlords, and resentment from other people on social housing waiting lists. Criticism was also levelled against local authorities, only a third of which had made provision for refugees in their housing strategies, according to one speaker.

The conference concluded with a call by Clann for the next government to develop a national plan for the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees.

The charity, which manages housing projects in Dublin and Waterford, recommended that "clusters of refugee populations are resettled in agreed locations and within national groupings to facilitate the benefits derived from the development of strong social networks".

The association also called for the employment of personnel who would help refugees to make the transition from reception centres to normal accommodation and a strengthening of legislation to prevent discrimination in the private rented sector.