No homes available for those in receipt of HAP
Our housing system needs a complete rethink. The limits for social housing keep so many families earning just over the limits stuck in precarious rentals where a landlord can say they're selling up costing people their jobs and forcing children to change schools
That’s according to Simon Communities latest “Locked Out of the Market” report which has shown that no properties within Limerick city and suburbs were available to rent within Homeless Assistance Payment (HAP) limits in Q4 2023.
In 2021 27% of all available rental properties listed in the areas examined by the report had rental prices within HAP limits, in 2023 this had fallen to just 3%.
During the same time period rents for new tenancies in Limerick City have risen by over 35% according to the Daft.ie Rental Price report with average rents rising from €1373 to €1864.
Landlords received nearly €2 billion through HAP and other rental support schemes since the current government was formed while at least €1 billion earmarked for the construction of social housing was left unspent during the same period.
Ruairí Fahy, local representative for People Before Profit commented on the housing crisis saying “the most basic need to keep a roof over your head is becoming a luxury as rents are outpacing wages. In 2012 Fine Gael made a conscious decision to increase house prices to bail out the banks instead of homeowners laying the foundation for the crisis we’re in now.
“We've crises in the hospital with A&Es still closed in Ennis and Nenagh but nowhere for doctors and nurses to live driving them out to Australia.
“Our housing system needs a complete rethink. The limits for social housing keep so many families earning just over the limits stuck in precarious rentals where a landlord can say they're selling up costing people their jobs and forcing children to change schools
“The state needs to get back to mass direct construction of public homes on public land instead of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael giving higher and higher grants to developers which just drives up rents and house prices.”
