Lord Mayor calls for incentives for small landlords to bolster rental market

THE Lord Mayor of Cork has expressed concern over a rise in homeless numbers and has called for greater incentives for smaller landlords to bolster the rental market while more housing projects come on stream.

According to the Monthly Homelessness Report for June 2023, published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on Friday, 12,600 people were accessing local authority managed emergency accommodation during the week of June 19 to 25.

The figure is an increase of 159 from May, when there were 12,441 people living in emergency accommodation.

A total of 570 adults accessed local authority managed emergency accommodation in the southwest region during the week of June 19 to 25, of whom 532 were accessing accommodation managed by Cork City Council and Cork County Council.

Speaking following the publication of the June report, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, expressed concern over the uptick in homelessness.

“It’s not positive that the homeless figures are on the rise again.

“Currently my office has also got many emails from families staying in overcrowded accommodation and looking for affordable rented accommodation, which are in very, very short supply,” he said.

“There are certainly medium and long term housing projects now being built in the local government sector such as Cork city.

“The problem is the immediate short term in Cork city where the incentives for smaller landlords need to be greater to keep them in the market, create affordable rents, and to encourage other landlords to join the market,” he continued.

Asked last week about the rise in homeless cases and if it were a mistake to withdraw the eviction ban, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that while the Government is “very concerned” about the increase in homeless figures, an indefinite eviction ban would make matters worse.

“If it was this position that you had an indefinite eviction ban, then more people would have left the market and more people would continue to leave the market.

“What the rental market needs now is a degree of certainty and clarity into the future and in the forthcoming budget we hope to provide that.

“But also supply - supply is the key,” he said.

The Fianna Fáil leader was speaking on Friday after he turned the sod on a €9m infrastructure project in Ballyvolane which will pave the way for 753 new homes.