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Chapter 1: What is the significance of Houben House in the context of family homelessness in Ireland?
You are listening today to a very, very special edition of LiveLine. We're coming to you from room 210 on the second floor of Huben House. Huben House is the largest family homeless hub in Ireland, run by the Salvation Army. And room 210 is the home of Megan and her three children. And Megan, thanks a million for... inviting us into your home and speaking with us.
How long have you been living here?
Chapter 2: How has Megan's living situation changed over the years?
I've been living here since February, but I've been in emergency accommodations for years.
Okay. How many times in those three years have you had to move?
Seven or eight times.
God.
Yeah, it's been really tough.
So we might talk in a moment about the room, about where we are, but maybe give us a sense of what life is like when you wake up with the three kids in the morning and you have three young kids. Talk me through the routine, what time you're up and what happens.
Yeah. So we have to get up at six o'clock every morning. But my youngest child stays asleep while I dress her and put her into our pram. She's four. And then my middle son, he also stays asleep while I dress him, get him ready. And then my eldest daughter, nine, she gets up, gets herself ready. And then we're gone by seven o'clock. We're on the bus eating pancakes.
We're off our first bus by eight. And then we're on our next bus. And we're probably lucky to get to the school for 10 to 9 in the mornings, depending on if the bus is delayed or anything like that.
So up at six and lucky to be at school by 10 to 9. Yeah. And breakfast eaten on the bus.
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Chapter 3: What is a typical morning routine like for Megan and her children?
But then I probably don't go home till eight. So then we're getting pancakes and beds, tea time and bed, you know. It's not really a lot of time for anything in between, homework. anything like that it's really difficult for the kids they can't go to their extracurricular activities or anything like that anymore since all of this like you know so and is that an intentional thing to
not get back here till eight o'clock? Is it that you're trying to avoid coming back?
No, it's trying to just get the kids their dinner and by the time we get back on the buses, really, it's just the distance. There is communal kitchens here, but I can't use them because my son has...
sensory processing disorder so the aroma of the kitchen itself he would be then thinking that it's our fields and he would he wouldn't eat it then basically so i have to cook somewhere that he's used to yeah
Yeah, and there's very fine kitchens here. We'll talk about the facilities a little bit later, but I mean, there's 316 people live here and all cooking different foods. So that's what you mean when you say the aromas.
Yeah, there's different smells, different textures going on and he just, he doesn't like it. And then he would have to be with me also. Yeah.
while I'm cooking so it's really difficult for him to be standing there smelling all this and there's a lot of then he outbursts like you know from it so but none of it is down to him because it's out of his control so it's hard I have no idea really how hard it is and I think most people listening don't which is it's why it's so valuable and important to talk to you describe the room for people listening who can't see it
So we have two sets of bunk beds. We have like a small kitchen counter, a fridge. And then that's really it. Like there's nothing in the room. It's just a room with a bed.
So these are old rooms for priests who were training seminarians. Yeah. So individual young priests.
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Chapter 4: How does Megan manage her children's varying school schedules?
She shouldn't be reading Thai space letter applications. It's just not what nine-year-olds do. She should be excited, preparing for her communion. But instead, she's in panic, thinking... We're leaving from a family home and all of our friends have a home to live from and she feels somewhat different to everybody else. It's just not nice.
So how do you manage things like that, like the communion or birthdays?
Yeah.
Even having friends over?
Yeah, they don't get playdates. They're not able to have birthday parties with friends or anything like that unless I can go to a venue. Yeah, so it's really difficult. Like, my kids have been three years in three Christmases, three birthdays they've all had, like, so... It just feels like it's never ending for them.
It feels like that for me, so I can imagine what it feels like for them, you know?
How hopeful are you that, I don't know, in a year's time, you and I wouldn't be here talking about this?
Oh, I pray that, I pray that we get sorted soon because it's going on a really long time, but I haven't got much, I don't count on it anytime soon. I don't think that's going to happen, you know. Just the way things are working out at the minute, it doesn't seem like, you know, people are being looked at properly, like.
When you presented first three years ago to homeless services, had you a sense then of how long it would take? Did you think, right, this is three or six months and we'll get back on our feet? Yes.
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Chapter 5: What challenges does Megan face in providing meals for her children?
Do you feel invisible to...
Yeah, definitely. Definitely I feel invisible. I don't feel like, yeah, I make a lot of phone calls and I send a lot of emails to the council, but I don't feel heard ever. I just feel like I get a response. It's almost like an automated response that everybody else gets and that's it. You're not seen as an individual person or anything. In individual family, you're seen as a number.
And that's it, really.
What simple thing, I mentioned sitting down watching a movie, what simple thing that everybody takes for granted would you most look forward to having your own home?
Maybe just a movie night with the kids. Just being able to relax in our own space and know everything's okay, we're home, you know, all this is over now. Put this behind us.
Yeah. Well, again, for everybody listening, I think we'll hope the same for you. Thank you so much, Megan, for inviting us in.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, no, thank you. And to Room 210, we're on. If you're just joining us, we're... bringing a very special edition of the show to you today. We're in Huben House. It's run by the Salvation Army. It's the biggest family homeless hub in Ireland.
Over 300 people call this place home and some of them call it home for not just weeks or months, which was the plan when places like this opened, but they call it home
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