Call for regulatory system for emergency accommodation

A call for a proper regulatory system for emergency homeless accommodation has been made, as a Meath family raised concerns over CCTV in their shared accommodation.

A Meath mother said a CCTV camera was trained on the bedroom door where her family slept in their emergency accommodation.

"If my six year old got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and left the door open, the cameras would be filming us sleeping."

Cllr Alan Lawes has raised this issue with the Data Protection Commissioner and Meath County council and called for proper regulation of emergency accommodation.

"It is unbelievable that anyone thinks it is acceptable to put CCTV cameras where children are living. It actually reflects on the standards of emergency accommodation," he said.

"I want assurances that all cameras will be removed from private areas in emergency accommodation. Cameras at the front and back door may be acceptable but not inside living accommodation."

"This is a serious Child Safety issue and needs to be addressed by all authorities involved as a matter of urgency.

"The family in question have notified Tusla and the Data Commissioner."

Cllr Lawes called for an independent regulatory body for emergency homeless accommodation.

"I know of many cases where homeless families were accommodated in horrendous conditions. We need an independent body like HIQA to monitor homeless accommodation. Homeless people deserve certain standards we don't fall below.

"This is not a new problem. Years ago, Fr Peter McVerry was calling for a regulatory system."

Meanwhile, the mother said that there had been eleven people staying in a three bedroom house in the Ashbourne area.

"There was one family living in the sitting room, there were four children in the house, the eldest was my son who is six.

"There was a communal toilet and kitchen and there were no fire extinguishers, blankets or fire escape upstairs.

"There was a camera pointing into our room. I have a long term chronic illness, Chrons disease and there were no other toilet facilities available if communal toilet/shower was being used.

"We lived in one room in that house which was only fit for a single person from September until Christmas eve, when we were given just one day to leave and bring all our belongings to emergency accommodation in another town."

She says the accommodation they are now in is a lot better, but since they were made homeless over two years ago, they have been accommodated in a number of places which were in poor condition.

"We were in emergency accommodation in the Dunshaughlin are for 20 months.

"There was no ventilation in a make shift bathroom, the shower tray was cracked. There was mould/mildew on windows ,walls and under the floor boards were wet, water from ceiling above made the electric lights in our room flicker, the cooker was full of rust which fell onto our food when we cooked."

"At night you could hear the rats running under floor boards and in morning my son's toys were nibbled at, there was rat droppings on counter tops and food chewed."

A spokesperson said Meath County Council does not comment on individual cases.

"Meath County Council works under the National Quality Standards Framework with Non-Government Organisations for the provision of emergency accommodation.

"The aim of the National Quality Standards Framework Standards is to ensure that homeless services provided are of a high standard and to achieve services for people experiencing homelessness that are well organised, co-ordinated, and focused on moving people out of homelessness into more suitable housing.

"Meath County Council's Settlement Team visits these properties on a regular basis and any concerns around the standard of the property would be raised with the provider.

"The provision of emergency accommodation sourced through the private sector takes the form of house shares and small lodging establishment with shared self-catering facilities.

"Meath County Council does not carry out inspections on emergency accommodation sourced through the private sector."