Housing in the North of Ireland is a disgrace. Mouldy homes, lack of insulation leading to fuel poverty, an enormous waiting list for social housing, and over 8000 households classed as homeless. Among the latter are many children whose lives are turned upside down by living in temporary accommodation, often miles away from their school.

A BBC report from December 2024 described what it’s like for children in this scenario. It outlines a lack of basic facilities, including “no fridge and nowhere to cook”. The single father, Aaron Mullan, caring for two children, described how:

We’d travel an hour and a half each way to school. It took us so far away from any support and cost £17 a day on public transport.

You might think there’d be some form of transport support for children detached from their school in this way. However, a new report by rights-focused NGO, Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR) shows otherwise. It reveals a near-total absence of transportation support the Education Authority had claimed is available for displaced children, many of whom are classed as homeless.

This categorisation applies to families in hostels, night shelters, or domestic abuse refuges. By law, these families are considered homeless due to not having settled accommodation.

Displaced families left behind

The report says that:

During a September 2025 meeting of the All-Party Group on Homelessness at Stormont, a Department of Education representative spoke about the impact that homelessness can have on education for children and young people…

They went on to comment that they:

…recognised the instability and insecurity affecting families in temporary housing and young people sofa surfing.

When an unnamed member of the Northern Ireland Assembly asked about the challenges surrounding school transport for children in families placed in temporary accommodation far from their school, the DoE official reportedly:

…appeared to indicate that transport support was available to such children

PPR have been working with families placed in temporary accommodation far away from their children’s school. None reported receiving such support for their homeless children.

Probing further, they submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Education Authority, asking for details about this policy. PPR received a copy of the EA’s ‘exceptional circumstances’ transport policy, which claims support is available in cases:

…where families are forced to move home at short notice for reasons beyond their control

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Education Minister Paul Givan gave a non-answer to a follow-up question at the Assembly, saying:

Schools and the EWS collaborate to identify and support pupils experiencing hidden homelessness. Schools are encouraged to liaise with EA and EWS when a pupil’s housing situation changes, to ensure timely support.

The EWS is the Education Welfare Service, which describes its role as supporting:

…parents and carers to fulfil their statutory responsibility in ensuring that children attend school regularly.

Education Minister Givan forced to admit lack of support

Further questioning of the minister continued, before he acknowledged on 21 October 2025 that support for homeless children was virtually non-existent:

Neither my Department nor the Education Authority (EA) holds records of pupils living in families with homelessness status that have been supported through the exceptional circumstances process for transport assistance. Not all children and young people experiencing homelessness disclose their living arrangements.

However, data is available for successful exceptional circumstances appeals where transport assistance was granted due to enforced relocation to temporary accommodation outside the school catchment area.

The stats provided show just six cases in the last three years of children receiving transportation assistance. In all cases “intimidation” was the reason given for support being granted. Four of the five successful cases in 2023/24 were siblings.

PPR conclude that:

…it would appear that children made homeless through factors other than intimidation and placed in temporary accommodation far from their school do not, in practice, receive transport support to help them continue to attend.

Shift in eviction policy still leaves landlords with arbitrary power

In other housing news, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons announced a consultation on a policy that could force landlords to give longer notice periods before evicting tenants.

According to Inside Housing:

Under the proposals, renters that have held a tenancy for more than eight years will be entitled to seven months’ notice. The current maximum is 12 weeks’ notice for a tenancy of more than 10 years.

Tenants that have lived in a property for between three and eight years should get six months’ notice under the changes. For tenancies between 12 months and three years, the notice period will be four months.

However, this still leaves landlords with the power to turf out tenants for various reasons. This includes if they want to move into the house themselves, or put their immediate family in the property. The North of Ireland lags far behind much of Europe, where in many places “no fault” evictions are banned. This means landlords can’t remove tenants without a very good reason, like serious criminal behaviour.

Without such protections, homelessness will continue to be a scar on society, leaving many more children bereft under a system that fails to offer proper support.

Featured image via Belfast Telegraph