Almost one person every day presented as homeless to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in County Fermanagh in one month. 

25 people presented as homeless to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in one month in County Fermanagh. 

New data shared by First Housing shows that 29 per cent of the 76 units of temporary accommodation in County Fermanagh are occupied by families with the other units occupied by single people.

The support service also revealed that within a four-month period from April 1, 2024, to August 31, 2024, 155 people presented as homeless in Fermanagh. 

Since January 2024, almost 300 people have presented to the Enniskillen-based charity, First Housing seeking support.

Maria Thompson, co-ordinator at First-Hosing Enniskillen said: We have had almost 300 requests for housing support from January of this year  - about 40 per cent of these are from people who are homeless - whether they are sofa surfing, staying with a friend or family member, sleeping in a vehicle or sleeping in out buildings and 60 per cent  from those in housing distress, inadequate housing conditions including damp, mould, lack of heating or sanitation, hoarding, structural repairs not being carried out and rent arrears due to the  significant and unsustainable increase in rent."

First Housing wishes to tackle some of these issues by introducing an empty homes scheme into the county, they believe they can help bring 50 properties back into circulation if repairs take place.

Ms. Thompson discussed the scheme, she said: “It is identifying empty or abandoned properties in Fermanagh that are in a reasonable state of repair.  “We are hoping that we could renovate this property and get a tenant into it, one of our service users.”

This project will need funding which the non-profit support group are in the process of applying for: “We are in the process of applying for funding to do a renovation” explained Ms. Thompson.

She said: “We would then seek to recoup the cost of it through the rent.  If for example, the renovation costs £15,000 we would recoup that £15,000 in rental costs and when that cost is repaid, the owner will take the rent after that.

Explaining the vision for the project she said: “We would want to make long-term leases at affordable rent. We would want to make sure the landlord was registered and fully aware of responsibilities so there would be a lot of support for people who would be interested in being a good landlord and we would have one of our clients in a home.”

She continued: “A problem a lot of our clients experience too are landlords who won’t carry out repairs and they are in very difficult environments with mould, leaks, heating not properly warming.

“It is impossible to live like that so we are hoping to set a precedent for landlords and modelling good behaviour.”

“There are a lot of wonderful landlords too, I am very much aware of that, both in having wonderful properties and supporting their tenants the best way they can but there are two sides to the coin.”

Other plans include actively getting the future tenant involved in the process of renovating the property.

“The other thing we are hoping to do is when we identify the property, we would like to identify the service user and get them involved with some of the trades and they could shadow some of the people doing the work and be able to work alongside and then feel an ownership of the property. They would be more inclined to enjoy the property and a sense of well-being looking after it and they would get skilled.

There is greater demand for housing now than there had been during the Coronavirus pandemic explained Ms. Thompson: “There has been a change in the private sector, there are a lot of landlords who sold so there were a lot of people in the housing market who had not been in it before, that was one particular change.”

Reflecting on how many people are seeking the support of the charity, Ms. Thompson said: “There would be some increase.  “There has been a steady number over the last two or three years bar Covid, people had to stay in houses by law and people could not be evicted with covid people had to be properties.

“We would have 350 or 360 applicants a year pre Covid, and it went down during that period  and we are already at 300 applicants now with some time to go.”

She noted that those seeking support from the charity include a mix of single people and families.  The winter is typically a busier time for the organisation explained Ms. Thompson.  Last Christmas, they saw a number of people present to them as homeless with no other options. She said: “Between mid-December and February, we had ten to 12 Fermanagh people who had nowhere to go. People were sleeping in vans and in tents, we then saw the next stage of people who were sofa surfing but this dozen or so had nothing, this was over a 12-week period.

“Normally at the Christmas period, family and friends are generous with putting people up so January is a very busy month for us and that spilt into February this year.”

As well as providing Housing Support, First Housing also provides some support for those with addiction problems including alcohol, drugs and gambling.  Ms. Thompson said: “A third of our clients have addiction problems, there would be quite significant drug presentations, alcohol presentations, and gambling presentations”.  The charity supports people with harm reduction techniques as well as serving as the first point of contact for other services.  Explaining the link between housing and addiction, Ms. Thompson said: “Addiction is one of the ways that people will either lose their property or find it difficult to maintain their property because their money is being used elsewhere.”

Ms. Thompson reflected that the ongoing housing crisis hitting people hard in Fermanagh. She said:  “Waiting lists are so high with the housing executive for social housing, the private rental market sector, the prices have gone crazy for rent. Very basic properties that were two years ago 450-480 are now £650-750 and finances haven’t matched that.”  “People’s finances have not increased, benefits have not increased, wages have not increased, it is unsustainable.”