Latest news with #Pressure
Irish Post
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Post
Protest outside the Dáil over Ireland's housing crisis
LARGE demonstrations have taken place outside the Dáil Éireann over Ireland's escalating housing crisis. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions organised the "Raise the Roof" protest to coincide with a parliamentary debate on the issue. The union labelled the crisis "the greatest political failure of our time". Ethel Buckley, deputy general secretary of SIPTU, stated: 'Workers are being priced out of home ownership and can only access housing by taking on unsustainable financial burdens.' She went on to add: 'This has serious consequences, not just on a personal level, but across society. We're seeing vital jobs go unfilled and more young people emigrating.' 'What's urgently needed is a complete overhaul and long-term strategy to provide secure, affordable housing.' Ireland's housing crisis has forced the government to navigate the wide gap in priorities between renters, landlords and property developers. Homeownership is simply out of reach for many young people due to high demand and low supply. According to recent data from property site Daft, average monthly rent has now surpassed €2,000 nationwide. In response, the government has tried to introduce policies that both limit rent hikes and encourage construction by developers and investors. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has stated that the government aims to considerably boost construction to meet national demand. However, Sinn Féin has repeatedly criticised the government for not taking enough action to resolve the crisis. The opposition described the situation as a severe emergency prior to the protest. Eoin Ó Broin TD, Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson, said: 'We're calling for measures that genuinely protect renters, not the weakening of rent pressure zones that we've seen so far, but a total freeze on rent increases and concrete support to bring costs down.' Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) are areas where rent increases are legally limited to shield tenants from sharp price hikes. The Raise the Roof campaign has widespread public support, but it remains uncertain whether this will alleviate Ireland's housing woes any time soon.
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
Minister says some rents may increase as he admits 41,000 homes 'not realistic'
Housing Minister James Browne has conceded that rents "may go up in certain cases" due to his new Rent Pressure Zone plans. The Fianna Fáil TD also admitted that the housing target of 41,000 in 2025 is "no longer realistic". Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) are expected to be extended across the country by the end of the week after the Government's decision to rush the legislation through the Dáil. The RPZs restrict the amount that a landlord can increase rents by two per cent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. More sweeping measures will be introduced next March that will see tenants enter into six-year contracts. However, landlords will be able to increase the rent to market rates either at the end of the six-year period or whenever a tenant leaves voluntarily. This has led to concern that short-term renters, such as students, will be negatively affected by rent rises. It has also angered the opposition, who argue that landlords will be able to increase rents regularly. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Minister Browne conceded that some rents may increase under the plans. He said: "The only way we can get rents down is to increase supply. That's having a certain system in place for tenants, for landlords and investors. "The current system is clearly not working. The Housing Agency report made that very clear, we have one of the toughest rent control systems in the world, and it is clearly impacting on supply. "Rents may go up in certain cases. I certainly hope they don't. "Our aim is to get rents down by increasing the level of supply. That's what we need to see happen." Speaking separately on Newstalk, Minister Browne also conceded that the Government will miss its housing target of 41,000. He said: "I think the challenge we have this year is we're coming off a much lower base from last year than was expected. We had hoped for much higher figures last year. "I think, looking at all of the different predictions, which are fairly consistent, I think 41,000 is not realistic for this year. "We will wait to see how the year works out. I don't particularly like getting into predictions. "My position as minister is to maximise supply, maximise the delivery of new homes and, irrespective of what the housing numbers will be this year, I'm making a step change so we can get that housing supply up, because we need to get from 30,000 onto 50,000, on to 60,000 houses. "40,000 houses is nowhere near enough." Social Democrats housing spokesman Rory Hearne criticised Minister Browne's comments. He said: "This morning, the Minister for Housing said that, in the wake of recent government policies, 'rents may go up… I certainly hope they don't.' "This interaction illustrates the government's uninformed, spray and pray approach to tackling the housing crisis – the Minister either knows his policies will cause an increase in rent cost, which he hollowly apologises for, or he doesn't understand how his policies will affect the market. "It's incompetence like this that has caused the Central Bank to downgrade its forecast for how many homes will be built this year and over the following two years – just when it looks like we can't fall any further, the government finds a way to worsen housing outlook."
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
‘A total shambles' – renters will be the losers due to market reforms, Dáil told
TDs are this afternoon debating the Government's laws to designate the entire country a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ), which will bring in rent caps to all properties. This will cap rent increases per year at 2pc or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Most opposition parties are supporting the laws, having called previously for the entire country to be designated an RPZ, but they also are putting forward their own amendments. Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said 'renters will be the losers' as a result of the changes. He said the plans were 'total shambles', 'haphazard' and 'back of the envelope'. 'You're going to make things worse in the short term,' he told the Dáil. He predicted there would be higher rents and no guarantee of increased supply. Mr Ó Broin said the 'best case scenario', which is aimed at driving fund investment in apartments for rent, would 'modest levels' of investments from abroad. His party colleague, Louise O'Reilly, told the Dáil how her father had attended the housing protest outside of Leinster House yesterday. She said he campaigned 56 years ago for better housing and that he had thought he would not have to still be doing so, five decades later. Labour TD Conor Sheehan said the announcement of the rent reform plans was 'nothing short of shambolic'. ADVERTISEMENT 'What was proposed last week nearly caused a run on the rental market,' he said. He said it 'really shows how weak' the Government was. Social Democrat TD Rory Hearne said the housing market didn't operate like any other market and it shouldn't be treated like it did. 'It's delusional thinking, it's market-like thinking that doesn't apply,' Mr Hearne told the Dáil. He said people 'need a home and people will pay whatever they can' to get one. 'Relying on institutional investors to provide a key source of housing is absolutely a wrong measure.' Junior housing minister Christopher O'Sullivan said the Government was bringing forward the laws quickly 'because renters need protection'. He said linking rents to inflation would be 'an immediate and concrete protection against high rent inflation'. 'We want to provide certainty, clarity and stability for the rental sector. The new policy measures announced last week to apply from March 1 will boost supply of homes.' He said laws would be brought forward later this year to give effect to the changes kicking in from March 1, which would include removing the 2pc rent cap from newly built apartments. New tenancies created after this date will be able to be set at 'market value' but will have 'far greater' protections for renters.
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Politics
- Extra.ie
No student deal: Minister says rent hike exemptions would be 'unworkable'
There will be no special provisions to prevent students who do not live in purpose-built student accommodation from facing major rent hikes when they return to college. New changes to Rent Pressure Zones will permit landlords to reset rents every six years or when a tenant voluntarily exits the tenancy. The move is a departure from existing RPZ rules, where rent increases are linked to the property. James Lawless, Minister for Higher and Further Education, met with Housing Minister James Browne yesterday to discuss an exemption for purpose-built student accommodation. However, Mr Browne said 'there will be no special exemptions' as they would be unworkable. James Lawless, Minister for Higher and Further Education. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos 'So there will be no special exemptions in current law for people in that particular situation, and it won't be under the new legislation either,' he said. Minister Browne said he would engage with Mr Lawless around student-specific accommodation, but it would be very difficult outside of this. The Housing Minister said: 'That's a very different particular set of circumstances, but I think to try and engineer into the legislation that a landlord would then have to identify what that person's role, are they a student, are they a full-time student, part-time student, what qualifies as a student? 'It will be unworkable. And I think it will be unenforceable, so we'll be in those particular sets of circumstances.' Housing Minister James Browne. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photo Mr Browne said he had engaged at length with Attorney General Rossa Fanning on the matter, and the resetting element of the legislation is 'crucial to making this constitutionally viable'. In response to a question from the Irish Daily Mail, Mr Browne insisted he did not make a mistake by not immediately implementing the national expansion of RPZs. 'We have moved very swiftly on this,' he said. Pressed on whether it was a mistake, Mr Browne replied: 'No.' The Cabinet agreed last week to make the entire country an RPZ, which limits annual rent increases by landlords to 2% annually. Pic: Shutterstock The measures were initially due to come into effect on March 1, 2026, along with a suite of other changes to the rental market. However, Mr Browne will now bring forward emergency legislation in the Dáil today that will allow for RPZs to be expanded nationwide, once enacted, which could be by Friday. In December 2016, when then-Housing Minister Simon Coveney announced the introduction of RPZs to cap rents at 4% per year, legislation was introduced and passed that same day. The delay in introducing the controversial RPZ legislation has provided some landlords with the opportunity to increase rent to market rent on a property if one hadn't been done in the last two years, ahead of it being brought into an RPZ. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire In the Dáil, Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik accused the Government of 'chaotic decision-making, U-turns, drip feeds and hasty rewrites of flawed press releases'. 'Anyone watching will be wondering when you're going to take political responsibility for the housing crisis,' she said. 'You're the Taoiseach, you're in government, your party and Fine Gael have effectively governed together for the best part of a decade and yet you are resorting to throwing critiques at the Opposition for not building homes.' Taoiseach Micheál Martin replied that Ms Bacik 'could have been in government' after the last election, but said she 'didn't have the courage' to do so. Speaking in the Dáil, Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrats TD for Wicklow, branded the decision a 'disgrace'. 'The truth is your policy is a shambles and you are making it up as you go along,' she said. Meanwhile, the Cabinet agreed to bolster the powers and remit of the Land Development Agency to allow it to build more private housing and enable it to buy private land outside the limited scope it is permitted to do so at present. When the LDA was established in 2018, it had a mandate to build private housing. However, after major political opposition, its remit was modified to only allow it to build public housing on public land. The Cabinet also agreed to exempt rent generated from cost-rental homes from the existing corporation tax. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed that this would only apply to the LDA and not private developers, despite the Government wanting more players to deliver cost-rental housing. A review of Compulsory Purchase Order legislation is also underway as part of a bid to give the LDA greater power to obtain land for development.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Students in private rentals to receive no extra protections under new RPZ rules, Housing Minister says
As legislation is set to be rushed through the Dáil this week to bring all current tenancies into a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ), concerns have been raised about the new rent rules that are due to come into force next March. Tenancies after that date will be subject to a six-year tenancy agreement and landlords will be allowed to reset rents to market rates after six years. If during those six years, a tenant leaves their rental accommodation voluntarily, the landlord will also be allowed reset the rent. However, concerns have been raised in relation to students who rent for a limited period of time for the academic year and for trainee doctors who regularly move around the country. Those groups could be subject to hikes in rent on a regular basis. Mr Browne said that while measures would be looked at for student-specific accommodation, measures for students in the private market would not be introduced. 'We're working out issues around students while working over the bill,' Mr Browne said. 'However, in the private rental sector, as it is at the moment, there won't be any special measures put in, in terms of the private rental sector, it would become impossible to police or to manage in those circumstances.' The minister said it would be difficult to determine whether someone was a student and then work that into legislation. 'There's always challenges like that; students, nurses, gardaí, doctors, consultants. So, there will be no special exemptions in current law for people in that particular situation, and won't be under the new legislation either, as drafted,' he said. Mr Browne also confirmed former HSE chief Paul Reid would be paid €50,000 a year as chair of the new planing authority, An Coimisiún Pleanála. The new body will replace An Bord Pleanála and will be expected to work towards new timelines for applications. ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, a judicial review into a development at the old site of the Central Mental hospital in Dundrum, Co Dublin, has added €30m to the cost of the scheme and delayed the project by at least two years. In May 2023, the Land Development Agency (LDA) was granted permission to develop the site for the construction of 852 homes on the 34-acre site. However, the scheme was delayed because of a single objector who lodged a judicial review against An Bord Pleanála for granting permission. Representatives from the LDA and the Housing Agency told the Oireachtas Housing Committee that last September, the LDA submitted updated plans for the site, which will be renamed Dublin Central, for the construction of nearly 1,000 homes. The new plans would include 940 apartments, 17 duplexes and 20 houses, with building heights ranging from two to seven storeys. Asked by Fianna Fáil TD Seamus McGrath how much the judicial review on the site has cost, LDA chief executive John Coleman said the delay has resulted in €30m in additional delivery costs. 'The impact of the delay, of the challenge, has been to add at least €30m onto the estimated delivery cost of that scheme,' Mr Coleman told the committee. He said that the matter was not yet concluded, and they are waiting on a final decision on the planning application. He added that he hoped a final decision would be received in the coming months. Chief executive of the Housing Agency Martin Whelan told the committee that there has been a 'near collapse' of inward investment in the housing market. In particular, he said the requirements around equity financing are a 'major challenge'. Currently, builders are required to pay 25pc to 30pc of the cost of a development upfront. This money is then held up for several years until the development is completed or sold. 'It's a particular challenge given that there is a higher equity requirement in relation to apartment development, and the shortage of that financing is an issue,' Mr Whelan said. The Government will pay €148.2m to buy the hotel at Citywest, which includes the convention centre, it was also confirmed yesterday. The hotel will be used for housing international protection applicants. Currently, around 2,000 international protection applicants, as well as Ukrainian refugees, live at Citywest.
