Number of households seeking social housing up 33% since 2016
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The number of households seeking social housing in Ireland has increased by 33% since 2016, according to new figures from Social Justice Ireland (SJI).
The organisation says that the increase is “just one manifestation” of the country’s housing crisis.
Economic and Social Analysis with Social Justice Ireland, Collette Bennett says the Government is failing to deliver housing policy to adequately tackle the issue.
SJI says the Government needs to set a target of having 20% of all housing being made up of social housing by 2030.
The current total of over 170,000 social housing units would need to be doubled to reach this goal.
The group wants to see emergency housing policy brought in in response to the Covid-19 pandemic - eviction bans, prohibition on rent increases, payment breaks for mortgage holders etc - remaining in place once restrictions have lifted.
"We need a new housing strategy that is fit for purpose and is at the scale required to really address Ireland’s housing crisis," Ms Bennett said.
Social Justice Ireland this morning published its 10-point plan aimed at helping to solve the housing crisis. The plan will be submitted to Government later today.
In its submission, SJI is urging the Government "to avoid the mistakes of the past."
Among the measures required, the group says, are the construction of 14,341 social housing units each year and the halting of the sale of State land.
The SJI says tax loopholes for large-scale investment vehicles purchasing residential properties should be closed.
- Expand Housing First to families, providing wraparound services and supports for children and parents.
- Acquire an equity stake in properties in mortgage distress, leaving families in situ and increasing the State’s housing stock.
- Build 14,341 social homes each year for the next 10 years at an annual investment of €3.3 billion.
- Prohibit the sale of State lands suitable for residential development and use this land to build social housing.
- Ensure that AHBs (Approved Housing Bodies) retain their social housing stock and prohibit its sale on the private market by AHBs.
- Address housing affordability on the supply-side rather than investing in demand-side schemes that artificially maintain high house prices.
- Close all tax loopholes for large-scale investment vehicles purchasing residential properties.
- Invest in Property Inspections and enforcements.
- Legislate to increase tenant protections and introduce long-term leases.
- Invest in the services and infrastructure to support housing developments, with particular focus on social housing developments.
"Ireland’s housing crisis has not gone away," said Social Justice Ireland CEO, Dr Seán Healy.
"The development of a new strategy is an opportunity to get it right, to move away from housing as an asset to housing as a home.
"Decent, affordable housing should be central to the formation of a new Social Contract, and a new strategy should underpin that.”