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BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nAaron Mullan is a single father-of-two and has been homeless since 2023.<\/p>\n “Very quickly life changed. I ended up a single father of two,” he told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n Mr Mullan went to the Housing Executive and there was nowhere permanent for his family to go to. They were placed in a hotel in Antrim for five weeks. <\/p>\n “We’d travel an hour and a half each way to school. It took us so far away from any support and cost \u00a317 a day on public transport,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Mullan added they had “very little facilities”, with no fridge and nowhere to cook. <\/p>\n “My youngest was still drinking from a bottle. I would buy fresh milk but have nowhere to store it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr Mullan and his children were eventually placed in temporary accommodation in Belfast in October 2023.<\/p>\n The family temporary accommodation service currently houses 27 adults and 42 children.<\/p>\n “I am very fortunate to be here,” he said.<\/p>\n “Having my own cooking facilities felt like I’d won the lottery. I felt like I had a burst of life again.”<\/p>\n However, he said the pressure of being homeless has had a significant effect on his two children.<\/p>\n “My daughter in the mornings doesn’t want to get up out of bed,” he said.<\/p>\n “She is feeling frustrated and she doesn’t have that healthy way to get her feelings out.<\/p>\n “It’s very confusing for them. You can’t set up her room for her. <\/p>\n “If she wants unicorns you can’t decorate. It feels like you’re living in a blank space. You still feel like a guest.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr Mullan said he is worried about where he will be placed next. <\/p>\n “You don’t want to tell people you live in a hostel because there’s that pre judgement, that stigma,” he said.<\/p>\n “There is an underlying shame because in a way you have failed to give the children somewhere secure to live.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr Mullan and his family are among 58,000 people who are homeless in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n With the sector under pressure \u2013 groups supporting those experiencing homelessness said their services need to be protected. <\/p>\n Bernadette Donaghy from Depaul said that having a home provided a sense of belonging and ownership.<\/p>\n “Families that come here to Depaul have been displaced from their families,” she said.<\/p>\n “They have been socially isolated. They don’t know the community, the don’t know where they are being placed and this is where Depaul comes in.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Charlotte McKee and her son were helped by Depaul’s family services. They had to move out of their rented accommodation because of issues with mould.<\/p>\n “The landlord raised the rent and didn’t fix the issues. I couldn’t afford to rent somewhere else so I declared myself homeless,” she said.<\/p>\n Ms McKee and her son, who has additional needs, were given temporary accommodation at a family service run by Depaul, 18 miles away from her sons school. <\/p>\n “Being homeless definitely affected my son. The way it displays with my son is impulsive behaviour, erratic behaviour,” she said.<\/p>\n “Homelessness was really hard on him.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ms McKee travelled on public transport to and from her sons school to “keep some sort of continuity for him”. <\/p>\n The thought of having to one uproot his home life and then two his school life. It made me feel like I was unfit,” she said.<\/p>\n She and her son recently moved into permanent accommodation.<\/p>\n “I can really notice a difference in his behaviour has improved and he’s much calmer,” she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick, an expert in socio-economic rights from Ulster University said inflation \u2013 the rate as which prices are rising \u2013 is among a “multitude” of reasons for an increase in the number of people who are homeless.<\/p>\n “We have a very squeezed private rented sector in Northern Ireland, we’ve got a long history where there’s been very little social housing built over the last two decades and so there’s literally a lack of homes,” she said.<\/p>\n Dr Fitzpatrick said that the “chaos” of living in temporary accommodation will “reflect onto [a] child’s life”.<\/p>\n “There’s so much stress involved with potentially moving from place to place, not having a stable home and a stable environment.”<\/p>\n She added that a lack of stability is “so detrimental to mental health, and just to the child and parent’s life, it’s just so devastating”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘Living in a blank space’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘Pre-judgement and stigma’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘A home is a sense of belonging’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘Homelessness was hard on my son’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘So devastating’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n