Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support this Bill for the majority of people who are impacted by the current housing crisis. The percentage of household income spent on rent in this State is higher than any other country in the world. Rents in Ireland are 78% higher than the EU average. What does this mean for renters and how does it affect people's lives? It means real stress and real poverty. Households are facing rising energy bills and food costs as part of the cost-of-living crisis but there is no respite when it comes to housing costs.

Last week, An Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, suggested Ireland is short of 250,000 homes, which is contributing to inflated house prices and rents. Last July, the Government announced reforms to protect renters’ rights through the rent pressure zones, RPZs. The Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act 2021 introduced measures to extend the operation of RPZs until the end of 2024 and to prohibit any necessary rent increases in such zones from exceeding general inflation, as recorded by the harmonised index of consumer prices, HICP. From 11 December 2021, the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2021 caps rent increases in RPZs at 2% per annum pro rata, when the HICP inflation rate is higher. The 2% cap remains necessary and somewhat effective in the context of fast-rising inflation. However, although helpful, this does not consider the cost-of-living crisis, the energy crisis and general crisis hardworking working-class people are facing in paying these rents. Tenants outside of RPZs can still have their rent increased every second year. In the past decade, average rents have increased by more than 100%. In the past year alone, they have gone up by 12%. They have now reached obscene levels. The average rent in my constituency area of Louth and east Meath is €2,200. You would be lucky to find somewhere for that these days.

A rent of €2,000 a month means a person needs to earn approximately €17,000 a year just to pay the rent, which is more than 50% of the median income. There are often two working people in one household but they still cannot afford the rent and are being made homeless. In many cases, such people are not eligible for social housing supports because the income eligibility thresholds have not been raised in ten years.

One young man from my constituency contacted me because he is in fear of imminent eviction. He was given notice to vacate before the ban came in and is not eligible for the proposed tenant in situscheme. After coming through foster care, he is currently in a housing assistance payment, HAP, property and has access to two young siblings. This young man is an apprentice electrician earning €400 a week. Although he has been searching, he cannot locate an alternative property unless he pays more than €2,000.Louth County Council has no accommodation for him. His only alternative is to go to the Simon Community. Someone on an average income would have to fork out approximately 70% of that income to meet that rent.

Needless to say, the devastating impact of the cost-of-living crisis, rising rents and low wages has once again been laid bare as thousands more renters are faced with eviction and the very real threat of being left homeless. With rents rising at the fastest rate in 16 years, the Government cannot continue to look the other way as more and more people are forced into homelessness.

This is what we know. Lack of supply is affecting inflation which is affecting rent prices. The rent pressure zones have failed spectacularly to control rents. The need for a Bill that will reduce the extortionate and completely unaffordable rent levels is more than obvious and this Bill attempts to do that. It seeks to bring rents back to levels that will be affordable for ordinary working people by making it law that rents be reduced to 25% of monthly median household incomes with immediate effect for new tenancies and within 12 months of enactment for existing tenancies.

Experts predict rents will continue to rise with no sign of the supply issue being tackled while renters also face knock-on effects from rising mortgage rates. Some 92% of those aged between 18 and 24 are concerned they will never be able to afford a home. As a result, there is likely to be increased competition for rental homes as would-be first-time buyers cannot afford to get on the housing ladder. This is dead money and the likely result is mass youth emigration. The Government is throwing more and more funding at developers to promote the building of apartment blocks and houses - it is not getting the results and the housing crisis getting worse - instead of building public housing on public land with a public housing company. In Ireland, the right to access decent shelter and accommodation is determined by the private sector and the market. The only way homes are provided for people considers housing not as a basic right but as a commodity that must be provided for-profit in the market. We incentivise developers to build homes for profit by throwing public money at them and we incentivise landlords to provide houses by not saying rents should be linked to what people can afford to pay. We give them free rein to charge whatever the market says they can get away with. Yet, unlike other products where prices are determined by the market, people have no other choice in this regard. People need shelter as a basic necessity to be able to live.

In the past ten years, rents on average have risen by 82%, while in Europe rents in the same period have only gone up by 18% because there are rent controls in most of Europe. In France, further rent controls have recently been introduced whereby if rent is seen to be reaching levels beyond what is affordable for ordinary people, they are capped at maximum levels. In the Netherlands, when rents are too high, there is a legal power to reclassify housing as social housing and charge social housing rents.

On top of this, inflated rental prices are costing the State €1 billion a year in various State supports such as HAP and rental accommodation scheme, RAS, payments. Public money goes into the pockets of landlords. The public, taxpayers and the State are being absolutely crucified by these corporate landlords who are charging extraordinary rents.

Passing this Bill is a matter of urgency and a key part of addressing this crisis by controlling and setting rents. However, it is obvious that we have to deliver public and affordable housing. Proper resourcing and investment are required to deliver social and affordable housing to reduce the share of the rental market run on a for-profit basis. Here is a solution. Here is legislation. The funding streams and approval processes for the delivery of affordable homes must also be streamlined to accelerate the delivery of these homes. We want to see serious and decent proposals put forward. Let us say, in the worst-case scenario, that if this law providing that rents should be at a level people can afford to pay is passed and every landlord in the country leaves the market, the State should intervene with the proposed tenant in situscheme, buy the properties and provide a home for the tenants with fixity of tenure. The key point is what will happen to tenants. The right of ordinary people to housing comes before the supposed right of vulture funds and others to maximise their profits. When it comes to corporate landlords, we should take property into public ownership and turn it into public housing on the basis of affordable rents.

The Housing for All plan is completely dependent on the private market and on global vulture funds. These corporations are getting massive public funds. Irish Residential Properties, I-RES REIT plc, was paid €8.7 million in rental income by the State via HAP in the first half of 2021. The private market and investors are to provide 83% of new homes, with the State playing a small role and providing less than one fifth of all new homes. This encapsulates the disaster of the for-profit market and commodity-driven approach to the housing crisis and is why the crisis gets worse day by day. The Government needs to overhaul and review the schemes within the Housing for All plan. On top of this, landlords should not control the market. What we need is innovative ideas. We need to expand on what is currently working while also coming up with innovative housing plans to aid supply. Our political alliance does not come first. The people of Ireland must come first. There has been little action on the issues driving rising rents, namely high demand for properties and a lack of supply. Today we can change that by passing this Bill. Where there is a will, there is a way.

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