November 26th 1pm Parnell Square
Organised by Raise the Roof.
The housing crisis in Ireland is unprecedented. Over 10,000 people are officially homeless. Only a tiny amount of social housing is being built and many are stuck on the housing list for over ten years. Most young people cannot afford to buy a house because they are so expensive. More and more are caught in the rent trap where they pay out huge sums.
The housing crisis is a direct result of successive right-wing governments. They see housing as an opportunity for profit and have devised policies to boost house prices. So, they invited in vulture funds to buy up €200 billion of Irish property to push up prices. They pay out €1 billion a year in subsidies to private landlords rather than build social housing.
These policies reflect the interests of the wealthy and privileged. The Irish rich have a love affair with property speculation and their interests are represented by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. There are 80 landlords or landowners in the Dáil and some like Simon Coveney, have multiple properties.
No one should fall for the lie that we have a housing crisis because of refugees. It began long before the war in Ukraine and is caused by the greed of landlords, bankers, and speculators.
We need to step up the protests and drive FF and FG out of office. We should form Ireland’s first left-wing government without their presence.
People Before Profit wants to solve the housing crisis by ending the reliance on the market. Here are three simple measures we advocate.
- No evictions. Full rent controls to reduce rents and provide security of tenure to renters.
- Stop the sell-off of public land. Build social housing and create a national construction company tasked with clearing the housing list in five years.
- A “Use it or Lose it” scheme whereby vacant properties and sites that are not activated within 6 months without reasonable excuse are acquired by the state.