“Government housing policy is a disaster”, say People Before Profit
“4,000 children growing up in hotels, and family hubs is a disgrace, the long term impacts of this on their mental, physical and emotional development are unquantifiable.”
“Government housing policy is a disaster”, say People Before Profit as last Saturday marked a day of action against the ongoing housing crisis.
People Before Profit carried out events across the country highlighting the levels of dereliction and vacancy while the reported numbers of people in emergency accommodation reached nearly 14,000.
They have called “bring back the eviction ban”, for vulture funds to be outlawed, to CPO long term vacant properties and to establish a national building company to “establish a State building company to work with councils to build thousands of social and affordable homes”.
In Limerick, an “Eviction Notice” was given to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael saying it’s “time to kick them out of power.”
Ruairí Fahy, People Before Profit candidate for Mayor of Limerick called out the government on their housing failures, saying, “this government needs to go. Their obsession with letting the market solve problems and keeping all developments “off balance sheet” has made homes unaffordable for the majority of working families to rent or own while people are waiting over a decade before they finally get offered a home.
“We have hundreds of empty council houses in Limerick needing more and more work the longer they’re left idle. These need to be returned to use and the new mayoral budget needs to get the rusty panels off buildings and put families in them.”
“These homes are part of a public housing stock, we should all be ashamed at how poorly they are maintained.”
Cian Prendiville, People Before Profit candidate for Ireland South in the upcoming European elections criticised the rising homelessness numbers, “4,000 children growing up in hotels, and family hubs is a disgrace, the long term impacts of this on their mental, physical and emotional development are unquantifiable. Nearly 14,000 people are declared homeless by the state but we all know of families living out of a box room and people living in their cars. The government has failed, it’s got to go.”
He also criticised the for-profit delivery of housing and proposed an alternative “direct-build public housing model,” where “rents are linked to incomes and you can live in the same community regardless of what you earn. That is the only way to solve the housing crisis, it’s the only way to make homes affordable and as long as this government is in power it won’t be done as they are in the pockets of the developers.”
