Frank gets a new flat, and Regina is moved

It was a touching moment, when the brutality of the housing crisis lifted to allow in some humanity, writes Gene Kerrigan

ISN’T it lovely, at this time of year, the way the Christmas spirit bubbles up? A mixture of secular idealism and Christian love embraces us all.

A kind of glow, I suppose you’d call it, surrounds us. And suddenly it seems anything is possible...

I mean, look at the way that nice old man, Frank, got a roof over his head in time for Christmas!

In case you missed it, Morning Ireland did a piece on this nice old chap, still working at 71 because decades of work weren’t enough to guarantee a roof over his head in his old age.

And just before Christmas week, Frank was being evicted from his flat, and relentless rent rises meant he couldn’t afford anywhere new.

Cian McCormack, of RTE, did a lowkey, justthefacts interview for Morning Ireland — heartbreaking stuff.

Within the hour, Minister Regina Doherty promised to intervene, and by the end of the day Frank was in a new flat, in time for Christmas.

Two things seemed obvious to me.

One, the Minister for Social Affairs was genuinely shocked. Her reaction was not a cheap political stunt, but came out of human solidarity. She was taken aback by the sheer unfairness of it all.

When Frank got the new flat, she immediately gave credit to the social workers already on the job.

The second thing that occurred to me: what about the landlord? Was no one thinking of the landlord?

Here was Regina Doherty, speaking to Bryan Dobson on Morning Ireland: “My own personal view is I genuinely can’t understand any landlord — I mean, I appreciate, obviously, they’re allowed to do what they want with their property, within the law — but any person that would put a 71yearold man on the street, on Christmas week... yachh.”

It sounded something like that: yachh.

Like Doherty had just seen something distasteful on the sole of her shoe.

As it happens, I was taking notes on what the Dail did last week. From last Tuesday — when the Taoiseach had something to say about the homeless — to last Friday, when a handful of TDs and just one minister bothered to stay around while the Dail allegedly discussed child homelessness.

It bothers me, the way the anonymous landlord has become the villain of this piece.

Look again at Doherty’s words: “My own personal view...”

That clause is typical ministerial asscovering. “They’re allowed to do...” That’s in there so no one gets the idea she’s questioning property rights or the unhindered freedom of the market to kick the crap out of anyone as long as there’s a profit to be made.

“But any person... yachh.” Ah, wait, now, Regina...

“Put a 71yearold man on the street, on Christmas week...”

How about a 35yearold woman, in January? That OK?

That’s the dilemma for rightwingers with the remnants of human feeling. Horse and carriage, ying and yang, profit and loss. Our politicians want a ruthlessly free market, but when it leads to gross, inyourface unfairness (to an old man, at Christmas) we flinch and demand kindness from capitalists individually.

Get over it, folks. The kids being psychologically damaged by living month after month in hotel rooms are as inevitable in the current setup as the gamblers viciously squeezing every possible cent out of the market.

Think of the property “entrepreneur” currently checking his offshore account to see if he can afford to flyin Beyonce to sing at his daughter’s 21st. He’s as much a part of this “recovery” as the 71yearold homeless guy lying in a shop doorway, being urinated over by the entrepreneur’s son at the end of a long night of frolics.

This is the new, new, new Ireland, the Ireland in which everupward rents are an essential part of keeping the “recovery” going.

At one end of the scale, FG/FF and their groupies are throbbing with delight as house prices and rents soar. Shareholders, bondholders and those who live from the income from capital are happy. The banks are happy. So ministers are happy.

At the other end of the scale, those on incomes from their labour are offered “precarious” work, at minimal wages.

Lower relative income and higher housing costs result in a haemorrhage of new homeless squeezed out of the market even as ministers come up with new gimmicks to shave the homelessness numbers by a fraction here and a sliver there.

It makes Regina Doherty uneasy, the inhumanity of it. FF’s Pat Casey, doing well personally but not bereft of human feeling, told the Dail about the sick daily reality of families getting their kids up early to drive them 50km from hotel room to schoolroom.

But isn’t that what we urge the landlords and the rest of the “people who get up early” to do: maximise their assets?

There are two opposing views on ways to tackle homelessness.

One, which our conservative forebears chose from the 1930s to the 1960s — social housing, the mass building of estates at affordable rents.

Two, tweaking the market — heavy rent subsidies, and a concentration on finding new ways to “incentivise” private builders.

In last Friday’s debate, TD Richard Boyd Barrett put forward the first solution, and referred — as did others on the left — to the adamant refusal of the right to shift from the market solution — even though its failure is dreadfully apparent.

Here’s the thing: no one stands up and argues for the market solution. No one can muster the facts and arguments against social housing; it’s just a stubborn ideological obsession.

Boyd Barrett reminded TDs of the Taoiseach’s view — expressed to the Dail on September 20 — that social housing equates to a “free” home, and he’s against that.

Such a childish, historically ignorant view might be expected from the FG trolls lingering in the comments sections of sites and blogs. But, from a Taoiseach?

On Tuesday, Gerry Adams asked Leo Varadkar a question on homelessness. We won’t bother with the squabble that ensued, but it’s noticeable that the Taoiseach seems incapable of engaging with the issue — he replies wholly in party political terms, hoping to score points for his side and against those who might take his votes away.

On this occasion he was miffed that the Opposition kept asking questions, but didn’t want the information, just the harassment factor.

It was tiresome, petty and embarrassing. From the FF benches came a plaintive sigh: “Stop whining and do something about it”.

Varadkar spoke of doing “everything we can to reduce it”, casually adding, “in the months and years ahead”.

There will be no massive sustained programme of social housing, as advocated by Boyd Barrett, Fr Peter McVerry and centrist economists. The role of social housing in consolidating a stable workforce, with confidence rising, is beyond the Taoiseach and those of his ilk in the sullen ranks of FG/FF.

Perhaps the notion of a workforce with rising confidence scares them in times when the rich demand “precarious” labour conditions and the timidity they breed.

So, onward to a new year of market freedom, with all its brutalities.

An idea: could Cian McCormack interview every single homeless person, one by one — from Morning Ireland to Late Debate? Then Regina can jump in...

Ministers could take turns intervening in heartbreaking circumstances. Oh, the humanity of it all.

And this latest idea, housing the homeless in Mountjoy?

How about we have them fight each other for a flat, in an arena?

‘The Taoiseach seems incapable of engaging with the issue’