In 2021, a man from Dublin generously provided a four-bedroom house to shelter a refugee family for two years. However, William Guerin, originally from Listowel, Co Kerry, feels misled and taken advantage of. Nearly a year has passed since the family was due to move, but Guerin is unsure when he will regain possession of his house in Malahide.
The former teacher holds no grudge against the Afghan family currently residing in his property but is enraged with the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) and the Department of Integration. Both parties were involved in the scheme, which facilitated the family’s move.
Brought to Ireland by the Government in August 2021, the Afghan family is facing the threat of homelessness as Guerin’s eviction notice comes into effect next week. They are living in fear and praying for a solution. The local community group that cosponsored the family has found the entire process highly stressful and chaotic, promising never to participate in such an initiative again.
The IRC concedes that this case provides room for learning. An IRC source acknowledges that the circumstances got bogged down in the complexities of the real estate market, declaring the situation as uncommon and extraordinary.
In spring 2021, Guerin procured a house from the 1990s with a 2.6-acre plot near his Malahide residence. The intention was to develop the site, and Guerin knew it would be a couple of years before construction began. This prompted him to reach out to the Irish Red Cross and later the IRC with a proposal to provide the house rent-free to a refugee family, as both he and his wife Michelle felt fortunate and wanted to give something back to society. The IRC realized a local community group established as part of the Community Sponsorship Ireland (CSI) scheme in 2019 was searching for a suitable property to accommodate a refugee family.
Instituted in 2018 and progressively expanded, the Community Sponsorship Ireland (CSI) scheme is part of the Irish government’s Refugee Protection Programme, a response to the international migration emergency. The programme facilitates ‘community sponsorship groups’ in welcoming and integrating families that are pre-accepted refugees before being resettled in Ireland. These groups assist families in accessing resources like social welfare payments, jobs supports, school admissions, notably housing.
The group is tasked with finding acceptable accommodation and assuring it is obtainable for a minimum of two years, after that the family should seek long-term housing. Since its inception, the scheme has provided refuge for 59 families, totalling 248 individuals throughout Ireland.
Michael Gill, a retired publisher, came forward to lead the community group in Malahide when Mr Guerin proposed his idea. Hesaid, the International Refugee Committee asked if the house piqued their interest, which it indeed did. Around the middle of August, they were paired with a family of eight who had recently evacuated from Kabul.
After a brief four-week stay in Mosney, this family moved into this house in September 2021. Although they integrated successfully, their identity is protected owing to their fear of the Taliban discovering their location.
Quoted as saying, everything was set up for them in the house including furniture. Their daughter, a recent Leaving Certificate graduate, praised Willie and the group for their kindness and hospitality, stating that they felt worry-free and extremely happy.
Mr Guerin initially hesitated to draft a lease – he wanted neither to be a landlord nor to collect rent – Mr Gill clarified that a two-year agreement was a must “to protect everyone involved”. The rent was fixed at €3,000 per month (but never collected by Mr Guerin), enabling the family to apply for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and added to Fingal County Council’s housing queue.
The family and Mr Guerin both signed the two-year rental contract on the 15th of September 2021, drawn up by the attorneys of the IRC and Mr Guerin. His solicitor cautioned him that the family would gain Part 4 tenancy rights – the right to live there for six years unless Mr Guerin has legal reason to terminate the agreement – if they spent six months in the house.
In the words of Mr Guerin, he was acquainted with the family involved and couldn’t renege on his commitments. He was confident that the agreement with the Refugee Council would be honoured, yet it didn’t live up to its promise. Mr Gill’s team, not a party to the two-year pact, also had faith in its execution, safeguarding Mr Guerin and the family in question. They took part in a one-day training provided by the IRC, which Mr Gill noted did not encompass residential tenancy law, contrary to the IRC’s claims.
From the month of October 2021, when the application for Hap was made for the family, until the approval in February 2023, the team was plagued by complexities, noted as “Kafkaesque” by Mr Gill. Despite assurances the IRC Fingal was acquainted with the CSI programme, Mr Gill decried the lack of knowledge, stating, “Endless questions, transferred from one department to the next. They seemed clueless about [the CSI programme].”
Mr Guerin, apprehensive about retrieving house ownership by February 2023, declined to endorse the HAP documents. The refusal came after scrutinising the scheme’s prerequisites, in which he was referred to as ‘the landlord’. He was afraid of the complications and decided to abstain from signing any more papers.
Consequently, the family’s attempts to get access to HAP and housing listing got thwarted, despite the family saving a portion of their earnings for the rent each month. As the family was set to relocate in the summer of 2023, there was no indication of an available home in proximity to the kids’ schools and adults’ workplaces.
The rapport between Mr. Guerin, the community group and the IRC had soured by this time. In July 2023, Mr Gill had assured Mr Guerin that the IRC was committed to honouring the termination date, yet neither the community group nor the IRC has been able to secure a housing option.
Fast forward to April, when Mr Guerin received authorization to build on the site. Legally, this allowed him to serve a 180-day eviction notice. His solicitor issued an additional notice on June 20th, citing unpaid rent from September 2023, and demanding empty possession by July 31st. Both the IRC and Mr Gill remained unaware of this until after the 28-day period in which to lodge an appeal with the Residential Tenancies Board.
Fingal County Council confirmed on Wednesday that it intends to find “accommodation” for a particular family. Nevertheless, there are still many unanswered questions such as the type of “accommodation” to be provided, when it will be ready and its exact location. Mr Guerin, instead of developing the location, has chosen to sell the site as he no longer has the gusto for it.
The Department of Integration and the IRC declined to make individual comments about the case at hand. Nick Henderson, the IRC’s CEO, suggested that one of the main takeaways from cases like these is the urge for more robust policies and procedures, particularly in identifying long-term housing options at an earlier stage. Currently, an enhanced level of support for community groups, especially concerning housing, has been established.
Plans to expand the CSI scheme are also in the pipeline for the department. As per a representative, “From 2024 to 2027, the Government has pledged to welcome 25 families annually under the Community Sponsorship Ireland Programme.” The Fingal County Council was approached for comment but has not yet responded.