Hostel Residents Use the Media to Raise Awareness of Religious Inequality in the Face of Ongoing Ministerial Denial

Sammy Jo and Orlaigh Lavery, who each live with their children in the Gráinne house hostel this week took their stories to the media to raise awareness of the human impact of the ongoing failure by the DSD to build and allocate homes based on need.

Coming in the wake of announcements by the Social Development Minister, Nelson Mc Causland, to invest in building homes in North Belfast where there is no proven need, the Lavery’s story is all the more heartbreaking.

Last week Sammy’s three year old son, Connolly, fell on the cold tiled floor of the ‘temporary accommodation’ she has been living in for almost two years whilst she waits for an offer of a suitable home. Connolly’s head was split open and he required several stitches. It is Housing Executive policy not to allow tenants living in the hostel to change the decor or furniture which is static and institutional, despite in some cases living there for many years.

Orlaigh Lavery, who lives on the fourth floor of the hostel with her 13 month old daughter also recently, experienced this inequality first hand. She said;  

“I contacted Clanmill last week to ask about the houses announced in Manor Court. I was told that I would have more than enough points to be rehoused there and told to change my area of choice to Old Park. I was over the moon. I went to visit the area and saw that the houses were beautiful but there were Union Jacks and Rangers flags all over so I don’t think I would have been safe. When I phoned Clanmil again and asked some more questions they realised I was a Catholic and said that if I want housed in the Old Park area I would need well over 190 points and I had no chance. Today the Housing Executive told me that I will wait for five years to be rehoused.”

Both women recently joined with other North Belfast residents in housing stress and wrote to the Minister asking how he plans to address religious inequality impacting Catholics in the North of the city. The Ministers response was that "the department does not accept your statement that there is religious inequality in social housing".

In the same week another resident, with PPR staff, met with Dolores Kelly of the SDLP at Stormont on Tuesday to make the Social Development Committee member aware of the extent of the problem and the impact on families across north Belfast.

The group, which has now grown to cover the Seven Towers, Harbourview Apartments in Pilot Street and parts of the wider New Lodge, are now preparing to launch their latest research into human rights failings by government.

The group is part of a unique human rights monitoring structure which has been recognised by the United Nations as a best practice example of how residents can use rights to make change for the better for themselves and their communities. Whilst Clanmil and the Housing Executive have confirmed attendance the DSD have indicated that they will not attend, despite having previously stated that the work of the group helps them to target resources more effectively.