Gerard’s story

UPPER Springfield father-of-one Gerard Burleigh was finally allocated a Housing Executive flat in the Divis area last week after being on the housing waiting list for three years. Gerard said he could only be granted access to his six-year-old daughter if he had two-bedroom accommodation – a criterion his new flat fulfils.  However, he had to move back into his mother’s home just one day after getting the keys to his top floor Ross Street flat as it has no heating and the living room has a hole in the ceiling from damp.

“I can’t have my daughter staying here until this is sorted out,” said Gerard.

“The windows are not secure and neither is my front door, which is not a great situation for this part of West Belfast. I’m having to sleep on my mother’s sofa which isn’t fair on her as I still have younger siblings living there.”

Gerard said that despite numerous calls to the Housing Executive in an attempt to get his accommodation issues sorted nothing has been done.

“This was signed-off as somewhere liveable and it’s not,” he said.

“I just want them to come out here and get this fixed so I can make a home for me and my daughter.”

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