Homeless Ukrainians will not be added to Mayo housing list

Ukrainian nationals who will have to find alternative accommodation when their state sponsored accommodation ends in the coming weeks and months will not be entitled to housing support, a senior Mayo County Council official has confirmed.

Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees living in State-contracted accommodation in Mayo are facing a homeless crisis with hotels, guesthouses and self-catering units across the county being handed back to their owners as the Government winds down its provision of accommodation to those who fled the war in Ukraine.

Fifteen centres in Mayo have contracts ending between October 2026 and January 2027 and the issue was raised at yesterday's monthly meeting of Mayo County Council.

Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne raised the issue during a debate on housing and asked the council executive if the Ukrainian refugees will be eligible to go on the housing list.

“It is going to have an impact because they will have to live somewhere,” he told the meeting. “Where are they going to go? How are they going to impact the housing market? How many more are going to end up into homelessness?”

In response to his question, Catherine McConnell, the Director of Services with responsibility for housing, said the guidance Mayo County Council received from the Department is that Ukrainian refugees will not be entitled to housing support.

Guidance

“From the day the new scheme comes in, they have no housing entitlements and cannot go on the housing list and they are not entitled to homeless support. They will be offered accommodation in state-run accommodation centres which will have no impact on our services according to the guidance and directions we have been given by the department,” she informed the meeting.

Cllr Kilcoyne asked the council to clarify that if 50 Ukrainians with little children were homeless on The Mall in Castlebar would the local authority be instructed to leave them there. Ms McConnell said that the Department informed the local authority that the Ukrainian refugees will not be entitled to housing support but they will be offered accommodation in a 'specific number of centres' or they will get their own private accommodation.

The issue on housing arose following a notice of motion by Aontú councillor Deirdre Lawless who called on Mayo County Council to provide the breakdown of those applicants on the housing list and those who receive social housing by nationality and citizenship status.

In a response, Mayo County Council stated that the key issue for housing eligibility is not nationality but whether a person has a legal entitlement to reside in Ireland and meets the statutory social housing eligibility criteria.

“Consequently, the information sought in respect of allocations of social housing regarding nationality is not available,” the Knock-based councillor was informed.

However, Cllr Lawless refuted this saying that information on nationality is requested on the housing application form and similar information was provided to Dublin City Council and demanded the information be provided.

“Information and data are not political; they're just facts,” she said. “Last year, one in four households on Mayo's housing list was not an Irish citizen and 1,046 households were on the Mayo list.

“They're young couples living in apartments, they're older people, they're families in HAP accommodation where the homes could be sold from under them. Every one of them deserves to know that the system is fair, and every member of this council deserves to know who is on our social housing list,” she said.

Crisis

Her comments prompted a discussion on social housing with councillors claiming that the middle classes in Ireland were being forced into a crisis because they cannot get on the housing ladder as their income is above the band to qualify for social housing.

Cllr Kilcoyne said the numbers on the social housing list dropped not because of the demand for social housing but because the increase in minimum wage and pension has taken people over the income threshold and they are then removed from the housing list.

“The people in greatest poverty are the middle class and those who were the middle class. We need to look across the Atlantic and see what happened to the fellas that made promises to the middle class. This is a major, major issue. These people are being removed from the housing list and they're being put into limbo because their income has increased when they're over €30,000,” he said.

Independent councillor Patsy O'Brien added that the infrastructure in the county has not improved to meet the growth in the influx of migrants into the county and there was a perception among some people that foreign nationals are getting more than the Irish people.

“We can't afford more people coming without infrastructure,” he said. “We're talking then about so many Ukrainians being discommoded in the next couple of weeks. I don't know what's going to happen there.

“It's causing such an issue and we as local councilors are coming under fire every day in relation to this. The people out there are saying to us, 'These people seem to be getting precedent over us'. We have to say we have faith in the system but there's not enough to look after everybody,” he said.

The Robeen-based councillor said people were frustrated and the middle class people were getting no support for housing and some felt they are better off on the dole.

“If you are not on the dole you will get nothing and that is the type of attitude out there,” he said.

Threshold

Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray said the income band threshold is so low in Mayo that people are in 'in no man's land' when it comes to housing.

“The bands should be increased so we can look after some of our own people who are being excluded.

“I would just call on government councilors across the country here to put the pressure on their TDs and their ministers to up the income threshold. That's where the crisis is. Yes we have more foreign nationals coming into the country and they're getting employment but they're in all of the low paid jobs.

“The wages in those jobs are so low they are automatically below the income threshold and essentially they get the house by virtue of the fact that the main cohort of indigenous populations who should be on the housing list are above the income threshold. That's where the fight still is. It's up to the national government to intervene and to address that issue sooner rather than later,” he said.

The Charlestown-based councillor added that people approaching pension age who are currently renting face an uncertain retirement if they can no longer afford their rent and it is time the local authority looked after them.