Eviction ban had to end to protect rental market – it was a vital move to support tenants, says Housing Minister
IT was the week when Ireland’s chronic lack of housing again made all the headlines.
Even Taoiseach Leo Varadkar conceded the Government’s decision to lift the eviction ban is likely to increase homelessness.
A ban on evictions has been in place since last year and is due to end fully on June 18, when landlords will be allowed to boot out their tenants.
Some 2,700 eviction notices were paused in November when the ban was put in place, with fears that thousands more have been filed since then and will come into action in the coming weeks.
The Coalition was blasted by housing charities, opposition TDs and their own Government colleagues for “opening the floodgates to a tsunami of homelessness”.
However, writing in the Irish Sun on Sunday today, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien says the Government had to scrap the order to keep a proper functioning rental market.
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THIS week the Government had to make a difficult decision – that the winter moratorium on evictions would come to an end, as planned, on April 1, phased out to June 18.
It wasn’t a decision made lightly, but it was the correct one to make.
We know there are challenges in the rental market and that’s why, this week, we also decided to further expand the tenant in situ scheme, introduce a cost rental “backstop” and extend the First Home Scheme to specific second-hand homes in limited circumstances.
These supports clearly demonstrate this Government is determined to protect renters.
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Too often Governments are criticised for making short-term decisions rather than focusing on the long-term public good. I believe housing is too critical for such games and am determined that we have enough properties to rent for those who need them.
The exiting of landlords from the private rental sector is the biggest cause of our current challenge, and is a consequence of multiple factors. A changing regulatory environment has resulted in a challenges for some.
RENTAL MARKET PROTECTION
Covid-19-related protections were necessary, but may have contributed to the decision by some to leave the sector.
In other cases, the recent rise in house prices has enabled some landlords to exit negative equity. As a consequence, they have taken the opportunity to unwind their investments.
No one wants to hasten the departure of more rental properties from the market as this would inevitably result in increased homelessness.
We need to retain small landlords while increasing social housing stock, supporting home ownership and scaling up affordable rental.
There are tenants in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment or Rental Accommodation Scheme who are therefore eligible for social housing.
Any of these tenants who are given a notice to quit on the grounds that their landlord intends to sell the home can engage with their local authority. I have given every local authority in the State sanction to purchase such homes and they have been assured that they have my support, and that of my Department, in doing so.
OPPORTUNITY TO BUY
For other renters, a new opportunity to buy will be put in place to give tenants the right of first refusal on their home if their landlord is selling it.
We know from independent surveys the majority of renters want to own their home, but of course they don’t all have the funds to buy.
That’s why we are amending our First Home Scheme so that in limited circumstances it can be used to purchase second-hand homes.
Essentially, the State will step in to bridge the gap between the tenant’s finances and the cost of the home.
Then there are people who are above social housing limits but can’t afford to purchase the home the landlord may be selling, even with the First Home Scheme. For these tenants a cost rental backstop will be put in place.
This means that approved housing bodies and local authorities will be empowered and funded to buy the homes for cost rental. Cost rental is where tenants pay a rent that covers the cost of managing and maintaining the home only — it is not influenced by profits or the market.
These would be long-term secure rentals, the kind where tenants don’t have to worry about hanging a picture on the wall. Cost rental is new to Ireland, and is already a reality for hundreds of tenants, and will be for thousands more.
Good Government involves hard choices. I appreciate many may have been disappointed by the Government decision to lift the winter moratorium. Believe me, it was not an easy or popular choice.
We can only provide real support to renters by providing targeted support — like the measures we announced this week — and by ensuring we have a robust, long-term rental market.
