An entire generation is locked out of owning their own home while unable to afford rents, says Social Democrats TD
THOUSANDS of people took to the streets on Saturday to voice their outrage over Ireland’s housing crisis.
We have more than 11,000 people living in emergency accommodation, including over 3,400 children.
And a new Eurostat report showed Dublin is now more expensive than Paris or Berlin for renters.
With the cost of buying homes also back at Celtic Tiger levels, a whole generation is suffering as a result of our housing shambles.
The good news, according to Cian O’Callaghan, Housing spokesperson for the Social Democrats, is that there are solutions.
Here he explains how we can address the issues that are affecting young millennials.
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THROUGHOUT Ireland, a generation in their twenties and thirties are waking up this morning in the childhood bedrooms of the family homes they grew up in.
Locked out of home ownership or unable to afford exorbitant rents, they face living with their parents indefinitely, devoid of any hope of ever having a place of their own.
This lack of independence can affect mental health, lower self-esteem and negatively impact family relationships — particularly when partners and young children are involved in such living arrangements.
Last year, the percentage of adult children aged 25 to 34 living with their parents was 41 per cent — a significant jump from 33.5 per cent in 2020.
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It’s not just those struggling to buy a home who are affected by the Government’s failed housing plan. Earlier this week, a report from Daft laid bare the full extent of Ireland’s rental disaster.
Latest figures show the average rent sought for a home nationally between July and September was a record 14.1 per cent higher than it was in the same period last year.
The average monthly rent for a residential property countrywide was €1,688 — a 4.3 per cent increase on the previous quarter and the largest quarterly increase recorded by the property listing website since 2005.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s recent glib comment that “the grass looks greener” for Irish emigrants seeking to rent abroad does not stand up to scrutiny.
CAPITAL RENTS
According to Eurostat, Dublin is the most expensive capital in the EU for renting, ahead of Paris, Rome and Berlin.
Property prices and rents are at an all-time high and this year has seen record numbers living in homeless emergency accommodation.
Yet bizarrely, the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien continues to deny that we are in the middle of a housing emergency and insists that the government’s plan is working.
The Taoiseach and the minister are adamant that housing commencements are up. In fact, they are down 14 per cent on last year.
They also claim there will be a €4billion capital expenditure on housing in 2022. Incredibly, in the middle of our worst ever housing crisis, they are almost €500million behind in their spending target for the first nine months of this year.
The Government boasts that 28,000 homes will be delivered by the end of 2022. However, there is a consensus that at least 40,000 new-build homes are needed each and every year.
Of the 9,000 direct-build social homes promised for 2022, just 1,765 were completed in the first six months of the year. Not a single social home was built by any of Dublin’s four local authorities during the same period. But there is absolutely no shortage of solutions to the housing crisis.
VACANT HOMES
There are several things the Government could do straight away to improve the supply of affordable homes.
There were 35,000 vacant rental homes on the night of the census — many of them empty as they are used as short-term lets.
The regulation of platforms such as Airbnb could see many of these properties return to the long-term rental market.
Increasing the tax on vacancy to an effective level could see many of the 160,000 empty homes brought back into use quickly. The State should commit to building 20,000 public homes — a mix of cost-rental, social and affordable purchase — every year.
A ban on no-fault evictions would help reduce homelessness and bring us in line with most European countries.
In addition, we should end subsidies for developers and instead use this money to build homes that are affordable to buy and rent.
Many of those taking part in Saturday’s Raise The Roof rally in Dublin vented their anger and frustration at the Government’s inability to get to grips with the housing crisis.
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They deserve solutions, not more spin.
- Cian O’Callaghan TD is Housing spokesperson for the Social Democrats
