Housing crisis having a devastating impact on one-parent families, group says

A new report from One Family, a parent family advocate, highlights the devastating impact the housing crisis is having on one-parent families.

The organisation released their 2025 Annual Report today, showing how the needs of families have become increasingly complex, housing insecurity, family homelessness, poverty and rising costs are contributing massively.

One Family said that over the year, they answered 7,981 queries through their helpline, provided 2,651 supports to over 700 families, and supported 99 lone parents through its new futures employability programme.

Their report highlighted some serious problems among families, with children facing huge problems.

Some of the key issues in the report include: increasing numbers of separated parents who are forced to live together due to the housing crisis; this is creating negative impacts on children's mental health.

Motor skills of babies and toddlers are being delayed due to long-term living in emergency accommodation. The group also says that the data is not showing the housing needs of a lot of one-parent families, as they are couch surfing or living in overcrowded homes.

Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family, said: “The circumstances of each one-parent family are unique, but the impact of the housing crisis is universal. Housing insecurity and family homelessness are the constant threat and fear for many of the one-parent families we provide services to. Without a safe and secure home, it’s incredibly difficult for families to separate well, to enter or remain in employment or education and to focus on parenting their children. But the impact is most profound and devastating on children, many of whom are paying the highest cost for the State’s failure to prevent the housing crisis reaching the levels it has.

“Even if every one-parent family was moved out of emergency accommodation immediately, the impacts on them will remain, potentially, long-term. Not only will this not happen, but we will continue to see rising numbers enter homelessness, month-on-month. This is unacceptable and cannot be normalised by society or Government. We urge Government to think of these families’ daily realities as they prioritise their spending for Budget 2027. While the housing crisis can’t be solved overnight, greater support can be put in place to protect families, including creating a new Additional Needs Payment so that a minimum level of income is protected for families after their housing costs have been met, along with increasing income thresholds for One Parent Family Payment and Jobseekers Transitional Payment and increasing HAP and RAS in line with market rents.

“We also need to support lone parents to be able to move from living in poverty on social welfare to sustainable careers through investing in our New Futures Employability Programme that has high progression rates to education and employment.”

Corrine Hasson of the National Women’s Council said: “Violence against women and the housing crisis are colliding and having a brutal impact on women. We know one of the leading causes of women’s homelessness is domestic abuse, and we also know that women in precarious housing can face exploitation. For lone parents, this situation is even more difficult, and indeed some women may choose to stay in an abusive or exploitative situation because they feel it is safer for their children. Ireland is failing these women. It is long past time for action.”