Rise in homeless figures “a national disgrace” and exposes the bitter fruit of the over reliance on private landlords and corporate property speculators
Real Problem: Rebuilding Ireland depends 80% on insecure RAS, HAPS and leasing schemes rather than the mass provision of council housing to solve the crisis
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has today described the new rise in family homeless figures as “a national disgrace” and said it “exposes the bitter fruit of the government’s overwhelming reliance on private landlords and corporate property speculators in the form of HAPS and RAS schemes.”
The increase of homelessness figure to almost 10,000, which does not take into account rough sleepers, is a shocking indictment of the government’s housing policy- Rebuilding Ireland.
Richard Boyd Barret said:
“The government’s insistence on relying on the private rented sector in Rebuilding Ireland to provide so-called ‘social housing’ through RAS, HAPS and leasing arrangements is total madness- economic and social madness.
“RAS, HAPS and leasing arrangements are precarious and cannot be regarded as a secure means of providing social housing.
“People are becoming homeless at this alarming rate because of the private sector and yet the government are insisting that the bulk of their solution to the crisis is to rely on the private sector.
“This is the definition of illogical and irresponsible policy from the government.
“What must be done is the state needs to build public housing on public land for actual social housing. We need 100,000 directly built public houses over the next five years if we are to have any chance of dealing with the housing crisis into the future.”
Richard Boyd Barrett also said that the proposed measures to regulate units being used on AirB&B are broadly welcome but will not fundamentally address the current housing emergency.
He said: “The government’s long-term solution to the crisis is now to double down on their crazy plans to rely almost entirely on private sector solutions to the housing crisis. The measures being talked about regarding AirB&B appear to be just another caveat to their more general addiction to the private sector providing the solutions to the housing crisis.
“Without mass state intervention in the supply of housing, I fear these measures will not even scratch the surface of the problem.”