Landlords forcing families into homelessness – Farrell
LANDLORDS are increasing rents, and forcing families into homelessness, Cllr Mary Farrell told last week’s Gorey District meeting.
She was responding to a comment by Cllr Pip Breen who had pointed out that Carnew has a much higher rent supplement than Gorey, which he felt made ‘no logical sense.’
Cllr Farrell agreed the rent supplements weren’t reflective but there was also a problem with increasing rents. She said she gets calls from constituents every day about this. ‘We need to be proactive and do something about it,’ she said.
The discussion arose after Liz Hore of the housing department told the meeting that the Council has begun an ambitious housing acquisitions programme, and has placed bids on 94 properties. To date, €5.2 million has been claimed for 38 properties, the majority of which are in key areas of demand, close to services and social infrastructure. She said that this represented an average price of €136,000.
Cllr Joe Sullivan felt the rent supplement rates in Gorey ‘are just not working’, and they are ‘forcing people on social welfare to the back of the queue.’ Cllr Robbie Ireton contended that landlords are buying up property are they are making more money from renting it out than leaving the money in the bank.
‘ There has to be some system of rent control,’ said Cllr Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin. ‘Every other civilised country has it. Otherwise it’s just the law of the jungle.’ He said that more money needs to be put into social housing.
‘People are actively evicting tenants with any excuse,’ said Cllr Breen. ‘ There’s going to be chaos. The whole thing is a vicious circle that we are losing control of.’ He said that the Council needs to look at using unoccupied houses for accommodation, and Ms Hore said that there are a few initiatives underway soon for vacant stock.
‘Rents go up and down,’ commented Cllr Anthony Donohoe. ‘If you put rent certainty on it, it works both ways.’
‘Every landlord has the right to get what they can, but when it comes to jumping rent beyond what people can pay, there’s an ethical concern,’ said Cllr Farrell.