Sick, elderly and disabled people living in a Co Sligo retirement village have described the moment they learned they were due to be evicted as “gut-wrenching” and “very frightening”.
David Stewart (55), who is blind in one eye and suffers chronic pain from a spinal disease, said receiving the notice to quit felt “terrible”.
Stewart lives in one of 27 purpose-built special needs houses in the Sonas Retirement Village in Enniscrone. His landlord, the Athlone-based company Nasso BK Holdings Ltd, notified tenants of six houses in the village last November that they must leave by June 5th. The houses are part of a larger estate of homes for independent living located around a nursing home.
“It was gut-wrenching. When I told my partner she was in tears,” he said. “It brought her MS on. She ended up in hospital for over a week because of the stress this has caused.”
The tenants are aged between their 50s and 80s and include Stewart’s parents, Elizabeth (84) and Frank (88), who has Alzheimer’s disease.
“We’ve tried to get a place but Dad needs a downstairs room with a shower and there’s no houses or flats like that. It’s been stressful,” he said.
“I’m not bothered about myself; I’d rather get them a place,” he added, pointing towards his mother.
“Where’s my dad going to go? What street corner is he supposed to sleep on?”
Elizabeth Stewart added: “We didn’t have a Christmas this year thinking about that.
“How can they put us out on the street? How can they lift Frank out?” she said.
David Stewart and his partner, Trish Hogan, outside their home in Enniscrone. Photograph: Brian Farrell
The couple have lived in their age-friendly home for the past five years and found it ideal for Frank’s needs given that he broke his hip twice last year and is now immobile. They have nowhere else to go and cannot find suitable alternative accommodation in the locality.
“We’ve always owned our own house. I thought we were too old to buy a new house so we decided to rent. That’s what everyone kept telling us to do years ago – move into a retirement village. Little did we know,” she said.
David Stewart said that if the landlords need to sell up, he would like to see a new owner come in that would allow them to stay on as tenants.
A few doors down, former chef Justin Carroll (58) said he was distraught at the thought of having to move out. He also has MS and cannot walk unaided.
“I was living quite content,” he said. “I was really happy in the home here. It felt this was final.”
Justin Carroll (58), who has MS, at his home in Sonas Retirement Village in Enniscrone, Co Sligo. Photograph: Brian Farrell
Carroll said receiving the notice to quit was “very frightening”.
“I couldn’t believe it. I’m not sleeping too sound at night because it’s only a few months to June. I’m on the roadside basically now,” he said. “And after five years living here, I feel as if I have lived nowhere else. I’d like to end my days here.”
Other tenants have cancer and said they were too upset to talk.
Independent councillor Joe Queenan has been advocating on behalf of the residents with the landlord and Sligo County Council, but to no avail.
“The reality is there’s no accommodation at all in west Sligo,” he said. “I think it’s a special case because they’ve nowhere to go and because of their medical needs and their age.
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“I would ask the people who own these houses to revisit it again, to see can we do something in the short term and maybe put a plan in place over the next number of years so this can be resolved.”
A spokesman for Nasso BK Holdings Ltd said the company would “not make any comment” on queries raised at this time.
Sligo County Council has also declined to comment on the situation.
Sonas, which runs the nursing home, said it has no connection with the tenants and would not be commenting.