Housing must be a No.1 Budget priority

WE can see the failings of Government housing policies very clearly. We have 12,847 people who are homeless, including almost 4,000 children. According to Cork Simon Community, there were 519 adults depending on emergency accommodation in Cork during the last week of, July 2023 - up 5.7% in 12 months.

These figures do not include people sleeping on couches, people in refuges or direct provision, or the young adults who have no choice but to live with their parents.

Dereliction is rife with more than 166,000 vacant properties wasting away or unused and those are just the ones recorded in the 2022 census. In Cork city alone, there are 700 properties lying vacant. The council must do more to tackle dereliction.

People have to wait on average two years to get social housing, and on top of that there are 350 empty council houses in Cork city and 184 in Cork county. 

This is not good enough and in a housing emergency this is unconscionable.

Average rents have skyrocketed in recent times. The latest Daft.ie rental report shows average monthly rent in new tenancies in Cork city and county rose by 5% in the last year. Rents in Cork city average between €1,500- €1,600 per month. This is a supply and demand issue and the daily number of homes available to rent in Munster has reduced from 1,000 in Q2, 2015 to 173 in Q2, 2023.

Renters in Cork need to be supported in Budget 2024 by the Government to keep up with the cost of living. Increased rent relief should be given to renters in Budget 2024 without the requirement to give the landlord’s registration number so that renters whose landlords aren’t registered are included.

The housing crisis is threatening Ireland’s economy. We have nearly full employment but many key workers coming to Ireland to accept jobs can’t find accommodation.

There are key workers such as nurses, doctors and vital healthcare specialists looking to take up jobs in Cork University Hospital, for example, who struggle to find somewhere to live, and this is affecting recruitment in CUH and elsewhere. The lack of housing is putting our critical public services under threat.

It is like Groundhog Day, hearing the stories of students trying to find a place to live. The scramble for accommodation, the rising costs, couch surfing, scams, students sleeping in cars, long commutes, and overcrowding - it is the same, but worse, every single year.

The housing crisis is undermining Ireland as a study destination and our reputation abroad is being put at high risk. 

In 2022, the French embassy issued a warning to its citizens who are thinking of coming to Ireland because of the housing crisis here. How long before others follow suit?

And the Government have been well warned. I was president of the Union of Students in Ireland nine years ago and the lack of student accommodation was an issue then and it’s even more of an emergency now.

The President of University College Cork, John O’Halloran, has recently called for the Government to do more on student housing and I agree with him. Rapid construction of more affordable, purpose-built student accommodation is needed; clear accommodation targets for the student population; an increase in inspections of private rental properties to ensure minimum standards; targeted information campaigns to prospective international students about how to find accommodation in Ireland, and a new student accommodation strategy.

Gardaí estimate that €2m has been stolen in accommodation scams over the past four years. 

Predators are trying to take advantage of vulnerable people who desperately want to avoid becoming homeless and urgent legislation is also needed to clamp down on predators seeking sex in lieu of rent.

The Government showed what can be done in an emergency during the pandemic, impressively working together across different departments on a national response, but the same urgency is not being applied to the housing crisis. An emergency response is needed but when the Government ministers speak, I don’t hear urgency in their voices.

France has an eviction ban in place every winter since 1956 - a compassionate measure for its citizens. Our own Government lifted an eviction ban with no Plan B in the height of a housing crisis that has put vulnerable renters at risk of homelessness. Where is the compassion in that?

Since the eviction ban was lifted, we have seen 5,735 people evicted in the second quarter of this year - an increase of 1,000 on the first three months of the year.

The Government must scale up the ambition when it comes to solving the housing crisis. In Budget 2024, any supports to keep small landlords in the market must also be matched with support and protection for renters. At least an extra €1bn is needed for housing in the Budget, and we also need to see a new, more realistic target of building 50,000 homes a year. The eviction ban must be re-introduced for winter 2024 and Labour’s renters’ rights bill passed.

Funds should be allocated to hold a Referendum on the Right to Housing. More than 81 countries worldwide have enshrined a legal right to housing in their laws or in their constitution, including Belgium, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, Austria and France. It’s time for Ireland to do the same.

As the local elections and a general election approach, anyone in Cork who is concerned about solving this crisis needs to make housing an election issue when the candidates come knocking and when casting their votes.

Laura Harmon is a Labour candidate for Cork City South West (Bishopstown, Ballincollig, Togher, Glasheen). She is an equality campaigner and was president of the Union of Students in Ireland in 2014/2015.