Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The evictions moratorium expired two and a half weeks ago in New York city. The backlog in eviction cases for a three-month period in that city would normally be expected to be somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 cases but, given the rent arrears that have built up from people who lost their jobs during the pandemic, it is expected that more than 100,000 evictions could be in the pipeline in New York city. The director of litigation at legal services for the city said the situation is the most dire thing they had ever seen. Meanwhile, 24-7 anti-eviction protests are being organised outside homes in Brooklyn and the protestors' slogan is, "No landlords, no cops, all evictions have to stop." Are we going to see something similar here?

This afternoon, the Community Action Tenants Union organised a protest in Blackrock, County Dublin, in opposition to an illegal eviction. For every landlord with an itchy trigger finger, how many will obey the law now but plan to evict once the moratorium here has ended?

It might not be as many as in New York city but I suspect it is far from a small number either. That is just the first wave of evictions. What about the second wave? Recently, the Irish Property Owners Association put the following on its website:

Rent increases are prohibited during the Covid–19 emergency period.

[...] However, Rent Review notices may be served during the emergency period, note that any increase in the rent under the tenancy of a dwelling that should take effect or be payable during the emergency period will not take effect until after the day after emergency period ends.

Are we going to see a wave of rent increases when the rent increase moratorium ends?

Three things now need to be done. The moratorium needs to be extended at the very least into next year. All arrears built up during the emergency period now need to be completely written off. If small landlords are hard hit by such a measure, a once-off emergency tax could be introduced and levied on the bigger landlords including corporate landlords to create a fund to which the smaller landlords could apply for compensation. Last but not least, housing activists need to act on the example of the housing activists in New York city and get prepared for a real battle to defend tenants from the double threat of rent increases and a tsunami of evictions.

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