Urgent government action needed in Budget 2027 
For immediate release – Tuesday 22nd September 2026

One Family today launched their 2025 Annual Report and said the housing crisis  is creating a “cascading, devastating impact” on one-parent families, with children most affected.   The needs of families have become increasingly complex, with housing insecurity, family homelessness, poverty and rising living costs continuing to drive inequality.  

 During 2025, One Family:

• Answered 7,891 queries through the AskOneFamily Helpline
• Had 900+ parents enrol in e-learning parenting courses and 346 parents attend in-person courses and workshops. 
• Provided 2,651 supports to 700+ families through the Parenting Services.
• Provided 913 counselling sessions to people experiencing crisis or unplanned pregnancy and those requiring post-abortion support.
• Supported 99 lone parents through its New Futures Employability Programme.

This year’s report focused on the impact of the housing crisis, with One Family highlighting: 

• Ever-increasing numbers of separated parents who are forced to remain living together in the same home due to the housing crisis, creating sustained, negative impacts on children’s mental health.  
  
• Gross motor skills of babies and toddlers being delayed or negatively impacted, due to long-term living in emergency accommodation.  
• Victims of domestic abuse, including children, being forced to return to the family home, rather than stay in emergency accommodation.
• Data isn’t capturing the housing needs of significant numbers of one-parent families, as they’re couch-surfing or living with extended family in overcrowded homes, rather than enter emergency accommodation.  

Karen Kiernan, One Family CEO said: 
“The circumstances of each one-parent family are unique, but the impact of the housing crisis is universal. Housing insecurity and family homelessness is 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 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, 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 supports 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.” 

Louise Bayliss, Saint Vincent de Paul said:
“Children in one-parent families are over three times more likely to live in consistent poverty and almost four times more likely to experience deprivation. Their families are also four times more likely to become homeless. Unless we introduce targeted measures for one-parent families, the government will not meet its targets to reduce child consistent poverty to 3% by 2030 or to end child homelessness.” 

Corrine Hasson, 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” 

You can read the Annual Report here. 

[ENDS] 
For more information, please contact Vicky Masterson, One Family Communications Manager on 083 447 0645 / vmasterson@onefamily.ie  

Notes to Editor 

1. One Family was founded in 1972 as Cherish and is Ireland’s national organisation for one-parent families and people sharing parenting or separating, offering support, information and services to all members of all one-parent families, to those sharing parenting, to those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and to professionals working with one-parent families. Children are at the centre of One Family’s work and the organisation helps all the adults in their lives, including mums, dads, grandparents, step-parents, new partners and other siblings, offering a holistic model of specialist family support services. These services include the AskOneFamily national helpline on 0818 66 22 12, counselling, and provision of training courses for parents and for professionals. For further information, visit www.onefamily.ie. 

1. New Futures Employability Programme is uniquely designed for lone parents in Ireland, to support them return to education or enter the workforce. Participants benefit from expert personal development and career coaching, peer support, and access to One Family’s wraparound services, including parenting support and counselling. For more information about New Futures, head to: https://onefamily.ie/new-futures/