'Housing shortage forced my family apart after sectarian attack
- Hge News
- Oct 7, 2025
- 2 min read
A Catholic woman intimidated out of her home in June has said her replacement housing is substandard and, as a result, has split up her family.
Briege Begley and her family lived at Westland Way in north Belfast for just three days but fled after what police have described as a sectarian hate crime.
Despite having a daughter,18, and a son, 14, who had been living with her, Ms Begley was given a two-bedroom flat meaning one child now has to live with their grandmother.
The Housing Executive acknowledged that the flat was not suitable but added there was a problem with housing supply across Northern Ireland.
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It said it utterly condemned the threats against Ms Begley which caused her family to flee.
Ms Begley had been on the waiting list for many years before moving into a house in the loyalist Westland area.
She told BBC Spotlight she and her son were arriving home one June evening when her son saw a masked man at a distance.
"My son goes, 'Mummy look at him with a balaclava on his face'".
He then questioned if the man was there for Ms Begley and her family.
"He started getting scared and nervous and I went, no, I don't think so," she said.
But having parked at the back of the house, they walked to the front to find the window of the vacant house next door smashed and "locals only" daubed on its wall.
Ms Begley said they then heard a noise at the back of the house where she had parked.
She went back round to find the four tyres of her car had just been slashed.
Ms Begley said that when the police came they advised her to leave.
"I said: 'Well, there's nowhere to go. It was, well even the children, have the children somewhere to go?
"So I phoned their grandmother and she said, yeah.
"The police said: 'Tell them go and pack some stuff'. Then I walked them to the police car and I burst out crying."
Lack of suitable accommodation
Ms Begley has since been living in temporary accommodation – a two-bedroom apartment in a nationalist part of north Belfast, provided by the Housing Executive.
She told Spotlight that her 18-year-old daughter is now unable to live with her, the first time her family has ever lived separately.
She said: "I'm very close to my kids. They've always been at my side. But now I feel like I'm just losing them."
She added that she has gone down three dress sizes because of the trauma of what happened.
The Housing Executive said it was doing everything it could to resolve Ms Begley's situation.
It added: "We understand that her continuing wait for permanent housing is impacting Ms Begley and her family following the intimidation and having to move from their home.
"Unfortunately, our teams are dealing with many similar situations to Ms Begley and many other families."
It said the wait for a permanent home is due to the lack of supply and available of suitable accommodation across Northern Ireland.
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