High Court reporters
A homeless Afghan man has brought a High Court challenge aimed at compelling Waterford City and County Council to help provide him with suitable accommodation.
In his action, the man claims he has been unable to obtain proper accommodation from the council, except night-to-night emergency accommodation which he says is unsuitable for his needs.
He alleges that the local authority only has four emergency beds for homeless single men. He also claims that he has had to sleep in his car when no emergency beds are available.
The man, who fled his own country over fears of being targeted by the Taliban because he worked as a truck driver for the American military, arrived in Ireland in 2019.
He was granted asylum here in 2022, which resulted in him having to leave the accommodation he had been provided with by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).
While he has been working, he claims he has been unable to secure accommodation for himself and a younger sibling.
He accepts that an offer of accommodation was made to him by the authorities, and his sibling has been provided with somewhere to stay.
He says he did not take up the offer because he did not fully understand the offer as his level of English is poor, and it was never explained to him in his native language.
By the time he understood what was being put to him, the time for acceptance had elapsed and the offer was withdrawn.
He has tried, but has been unable to secure, social housing support. This, he claims, was refused because he was wrongly deemed to have turned down accommodation.
He presented to the council's homeless service several months ago, but learned that it has only a limited number of emergency beds for single men.
He claims he was first advised to go to Dublin, but has remained in Waterford.
The court heard on the occasions he has been provided with emergency accommodation by the council all he has been given was either a pull-out bed or a couch in an unheated room. The accommodation is only available after 9pm.
While he is on the council's homeless list, he does not know when an offer will be made to him for anything other than the night-to-night emergency accommodation.
He also claims that he has been told that, as a single man, no provision has been made for him, other than one of four beds allegedly assigned to single men. If all the beds are full, then there is no facility for people such as him, he claims.
Being homeless has adversely affected a man's health, it is also claimed.
As a result of what he claims is the council's failure to act lawfully under the 1988 Housing Act, he has brought High Court proceedings against the council.
In his judicial review action, the man seeks various orders and declarations, including an order that it provide him with accommodation other than an emergency night to night bed.
He also seeks orders requiring the local authority to reconsider lawfully his homeless accommodation needs.
He further seeks several declarations from the court, including that the council's alleged policy of only providing four emergency beds for single men is unlawful, and that his rights under the Constitutional and European Convention on Human Rights are not being vindicated.
The matter came before Ms Justice Niamh Hyland on Monday, who granted the man permission to bring his challenge on an ex-parte basis.
The matter will return before the court next month.
