Wealthy vulture funds snapping up houses have robbed families of chance to own their own home, says Mary Lou McDonald
IT IS time to clip the wings of vulture funds, the Sinn Féin leader has said.
Mary Lou McDonald today highlights the issue of investors snapping up nearly whole estates at a time, leaving Irish families unable to buy their own homes.
In Balgriffin, 46 of the 54 properties in Belcamp Manor were sold to an investment fund for more than €21.5million.
And it comes after Ryanair bought 25 of 28 houses built in Fosterstown Place in Swords to rent out to staff.
The homes are “for new cabin crew who are joining Ryanair based in Dublin, to help us maintain Ryanair’s flight schedules for up to 33 Dublin aircraft,” the firm said.
The statement added: “In recent years the absence of affordable rental accommodation has been a major impediment to recruiting new cabin crew members to Ryanair’s inflight team.”
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Sinn Féin has proposed a 17 per cent tax on a single buyer purchasing ten or more homes.
The current rate is ten per cent, but it has not stopped funds snapping up housing.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien recently told the Dáil that just one per cent of home sales have been purchased by these funds since 2021.
Here Sinn Fein leader Mary LOU McDONALD tells the Irish Sun about why these funds are leaving Irish people without a roof over their heads.
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ON the watch of this government, the journey to home ownership has become longer and more difficult for an entire generation.
People scrimp and save for years to buy their own home, but sky-high house prices put the dream beyond the reach of many ordinary workers and families.
Many are trapped in the nightmare of paying rip-off rents every month damaging their efforts to get a mortgage deposit together.
Saving to buy a home is a hard slog at the best of times, but it’s even tougher during an unprecedented housing emergency and the most serious cost of living crisis in decades.
The obstacles faced by those desperate to buy a home of their own are immense.
FUNDS PUSH UP PRICES
So, the news that a wealthy vulture fund has swooped in and bought up 46 of 54 homes in Belcamp Manor in Dublin from under the noses of ordinary home buyers makes for depressing reading.
They will now put these homes up for staggering levels of rent, charging upwards of €3,000 a month.
This is a real kick in the teeth for those making real, everyday sacrifices to put themselves in a position to purchase a home.
But perhaps the worst thing about this news is that these vulture funds are backed to the hilt by the government.
Three years ago, when a wealthy fund attempted to snap up the majority of family homes at Mullen Park in Maynooth there was understandable public outcry.
The government agreed that this was unfair and unacceptable. They said that they would sort it out.
COSY GOVERNMENT DEAL
We warned them that the measures they introduced then were limp and doomed to failure.
The government’s stamp duty increase didn’t make a dent in the power of the vultures and was easily absorbed by these mega-rich funds.
Government also failed to tackle the sweetheart financial advantages bestowed on the funds by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
This cosy deal allows them to get away without paying a single red cent on the enormous incomes they gain from charging rip-off rents. It is scandalous.
The Taoiseach says that government will have to “look at” how the vulture fund was able to buy up the homes in Belcamp Manor.
This is a bluff. He knows well how it happened.
CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST
Government decided not to protect tens of thousands of family homes already in the planning process from being snapped up by vultures.
This is what happened at Belcamp Manor, and it wasn’t a once off. It’s also what happened with the 630 homes bought up by vulture funds up to March of 2023.
Government was warned repeatedly this would happen, but they ignored these warnings.
Now, the chickens have come home to roost and the result is that investment funds, supported by government, have robbed workers and families of their chance to own their own home.
All the while the government sits on its hands. They tell us this is no big deal. This is no great surprise from a government that has failed so spectacularly in housing.
Workers and families desperately looking to put an affordable roof over their head need a government on their side, not one that is in the corner of wealthy vulture funds.
Now is the time for government to finally take real action to clip the wings of the vulture funds.
Government must stop them from buying up homes that should be available to buy for ordinary people looking to build a future.