‘I was made homeless days after having a C-section,’ says mother

A YOUNG mother became homeless just days after giving birth to a premature baby.

Sarah Moran (25), originally from Crumlin, Dublin, went into labour with daughter Summer, now three, at the same time she was losing the home she rented with partner Sean Wade, also 25, and daughter, Zoe, now four.

Ms Moran spoke out on the homeless crisis yesterday to support Focus Ireland’s campaign to fundraise ahead of the Christmas season.

The couple now live in Swords, Dublin, with their children, including Sean (1), but spent two-and-a-half years in emergency accommodation before the charity was able to source them a stable home.

“We spent two Christmases in hotels and Summer was born into homelessness,” she said. “I gave birth to Summer when we had to leave a rented house and within a few days of a C-section I had to go from a hospital to the council in Drogheda, where we had been living to be near Sean’s family, to get emergency accommodation. But we’d been waiting on rent allowance for nine months, so we moved back to Dublin, where we are from.”

The couple were unable to find a home as rents increased. On top of this, Mr Wade, a chef, wasn’t permitted to live in the same emergency accommodation as his partner and children because he was working, he claims. He said he could only imagine how hard homelessness is on single parents.

They say the children helped them survive the trauma of homelessness.

“If it wasn’t for having the kids, God knows where we could’ve been,” Mr Wade said.

The couple urged all families at risk of homelessness to contact the PRTB and charities such as Focus.