1 IN 6 TENANTS CAN’T PAY RENT

RENTERS are facing a heightened risk of homelessness amid the cost-of-living crisis as statistics released yesterday show that one in six tenants across the country is unable to pay the rent on time.

New data from the Central Statistics Office shows 16.2% of households were unable to pay rent on time in 2021.

Labour senator Rebecca Moynihan said ‘renters are a particularly vulnerable group in the cost-of-living crisis’.

She said that across Ireland there are ‘people in insecure tenancies, people being evicted, people having their rent raised massively, because landlords know there is no other choice’.

The latest Residential Tenancies Board index shows new rents rose by 9% in the year to the end of 2021, with the highest increases, of around 25%, in Co. Roscommon and Co. Waterford.

Ms Moynihan said the spiralling rents are ‘unsustainable’ and called on the Government to implement a three-year rent freeze to give renters a break as food and fuel prices also skyrocket.

Homelessness has also risen significantly, with figures released last week showing that 9,825 people were homeless in March, up 3.5% from February.

A record 1,230 people aged 18-24 were registered as homeless, as well as 5% more families than in February.

‘I’m seeing every day that people are being evicted and entering homelessness from the private rental sector in particular,’ Ms Moynihan said.

The CSO’s data also showed that four in ten households had some difficulty in making ends meet last year, with the rate highest for single-parent households.

A spokesman for the Department for Housing said: ‘The Government needs to strike a balance between restricting the rents tenants are paying and keeping ordinary landlords in the system.’