Paul Murphy urges long-term housing for domestic violence survivors
Paul Murphy raised concerns about the shortage of long-term social housing for victims of domestic violence and called for additional provision. He argued that reliance on short-term refuges leaves many women unable to leave abusive relationships or forced to return to them.
Last week South Dublin County Council passed a People for Profit motion to allocate long-term housing to victims of gender-based violence leaving short-term refuges. Official figures cited in the debate show 32 households fleeing domestic violence were forced into emergency accommodation from January to March, and service providers said this figure massively understates the problem.
Paul Murphy described the lived impact of the housing crisis, saying women either cannot leave abusive relationships or are forced to return to them once their time in a refuge is up. He recounted speaking to a woman who panicked when her short-term refuge placement ended because moving into emergency accommodation meant moving outside her support networks.
Paul Murphy said existing frameworks - housing for all and the zero tolerance strategy on gender-based violence - focus on short-term refuges but do not address the need for long-term secure social housing for victims. He emphasised that long-term, permanent and secure social housing is required to prevent survivors being pushed back into unsafe situations.
In response to Paul Murphy's question on whether additional long-term social housing is needed, the minister said they had no issue with making sure long-term social housing provision is available for those fleeing domestic violence. The minister also acknowledged a need for more permanent structures and secure units, saying work is at varying degrees of progress and needs to be accelerated.
Council motion and official figures
Last week South Dublin County Council passed a People for Profit motion to allocate long-term housing to victims of gender-based violence leaving short-term refuges. Official figures cited in the debate show 32 households fleeing domestic violence were forced into emergency accommodation from January to March, and service providers said this figure massively understates the problem.
Evidence from survivors
Paul Murphy described the lived impact of the housing crisis, saying women either cannot leave abusive relationships or are forced to return to them once their time in a refuge is up. He recounted speaking to a woman who panicked when her short-term refuge placement ended because moving into emergency accommodation meant moving outside her support networks.
Policy gap identified
Paul Murphy said existing frameworks - housing for all and the zero tolerance strategy on gender-based violence - focus on short-term refuges but do not address the need for long-term secure social housing for victims. He emphasised that long-term, permanent and secure social housing is required to prevent survivors being pushed back into unsafe situations.
Ministerial response
In response to Paul Murphy's question on whether additional long-term social housing is needed, the minister said they had no issue with making sure long-term social housing provision is available for those fleeing domestic violence. The minister also acknowledged a need for more permanent structures and secure units, saying work is at varying degrees of progress and needs to be accelerated.
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Transcript
Last week, the South Dublin County Council passed a People for Profit motion to allocate long-term housing to victims of gender-based violence leaving short-term refuges. Official figures show that 32 households fleeing domestic violence were forced into emergency accommodation from January to March. According to service providers, this massively understates the problem. The housing crisis means women either cannot leave abusive relationships at all or are forced to return to them once their time in a refuge is up. I spoke to a woman a few weeks ago whose time in the short-term refuge was over in an absolute panic because moving into emergency accommodation means moving outside of her support networks. Both housing for all and zero tolerance strategy on gender-based violence focus on short-term refuges but nothing is being done in providing long-term secure social housing for victims of domestic violence. Do you accept that additional long-term social housing needs to be provided? Deputy Paul Murphy, I have no issue at all in terms of making sure we have long-term social housing provision for those fleeing domestic violence. Also, we do need more permanent structures as well and more secure units. They are all at varying degrees of progress, but I think we need to accelerate that also.