Kose is very determined and speaks English well, but his limited reading capacity and digital literacy affected his access to state documents and support.
He first submitted a housing application in 2023, but as of December 2024, he still had not successfully been added to a local authority housing list as he struggled with follow-up correspondence from his local authority. After being recognised as a refugee, Kose took up employment in Dublin working in construction. When he received a transfer letter from IPAS, he moved in with a friend to avoid losing his job in Dublin.
When Kose’s Irish Residence Permit (IRP) expired in September 2024, he lost his job and became homeless. Due to limited digital literacy, Kose struggled to engage with the Immigration Service Delivery portal and with his local authority to check the status of his housing application. His confidence levels dropped significantly, and he found it difficult to communicate with different services. When he presented to Intreo (public employment service) for support, he was incorrectly advised that he was not eligible for social welfare supports due to his IRP being out of date.
His financial situation became precarious as he lived off his dwindling savings, and he found himself on the brink of rough sleeping. In October 2025, Kose attended an Information and Advocacy Service appointment where he was then referred to our Befriending Programme under the Housing programme. At the Befriending sessions, one of the volunteers initially engaged with him in French.
This helped Kose build up his confidence, and over several sessions, he established trust in the organisation and engaged with us further for support. Collaboration between our Information and Advocacy Service and Housing work helped him to renew his IRP and engage with his legal entitlements to social welfare and housing supports. Our Housing Officer attended his homeless assessment with him, where he was able to advocate for himself.
Dublin Region Homeless Executive provided him access to emergency accommodation and helped him get his housing application with Dublin City Council approved. Kose now has a stable base to re-access work and has been referred to our Employment team to help him with getting back into employment.
*To protect privacy, name has been changed and the person pictured is not connected to this story.