Tenant asked residents' association if she was 'supposed to have sex with landlord'
In Calling Charter Criminal The Sex Offence, Women's Have Years Charities That Renters' Make To Groups Party's And Proposes Been For Something File For Rent a Homeless Recent Picture
A renter asked her local residents' association whether she was "supposed to have sex with her landlord" and if that was something that was expected in Ireland, a Social Democrats election candidate has revealed.
The woman's story was brought up with Eoin Hayes while out canvassing and he raised it at the launch of the party's renters' charter, noting that the Government voted down the Ban on Sex for Rent Bill introduced by the Social Democrats two years ago.
"That gives you an idea of the attitude in Government to the precarity that renters are facing," said Mr Hayes.
The charter proposes to make 'sex for rent' a criminal offence, something that women's groups and homeless charities have been calling for in recent years.
The charter also proposes banning the bulk purchase of houses and apartments by vulture funds, a three-year rent freeze, and building 25,000 affordable rental homes over five years with average monthly rents of €1,200 in Dublin and €1,000 for the rest of the country.
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Another Social Democrats candidate, Rory Hearne, has said that three-quarters of renters struggle to pay the bills after their rent is taken out of their salary.
The Government has left renters behind and allowed rents to soar by 43% during their time in the Dáil, Mr Hearne said.
"Each and every one of them wakes up every day wondering will this be the day where we get a letter or an email from the landlord saying that we have to leave," said Mr Hearne, as he proposed the end of 'no-fault evictions' which he said is in place in most European countries.
Mr Hearne said it is "absolutely ridiculous" to believe that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will solve the housing crisis when their policies created it.
Meanwhile, the Green Party has said it would establish a national online register of derelict sites in order to help councils to identify sites for intervention.
Steven Matthews said the party is committed to ending "the scourge of vacancy" by making it easier to access the vacant property refurbishment grant.
The party also proposes to increase the vacant homes tax and expand its scope to include homes that are currently excluded because they are deemed uninhabitable.
Local authorities would be given greater powers and resources to compulsory purchase derelict buildings, according to Ossian Smyth.
The Green Party came in for criticism from outgoing housing minister Darragh O'Brien who said its proposals to introduce price caps on the Help to Buy scheme would only put “additional hurdles” in front of first-time buyers.
The Green’s manifesto has called for the Help to Buy scheme to be aligned with existing price caps placed on the Government’s First Home scheme.
“From the Green Party’s proposal, it looks to me that they’re putting additional conditions and hurdles for first-time buyers by bringing in price variations across the country," the Fianna Fáil TD said.
“That’s not something that I would support.”
Mr O’Brien said that the Government, which included the Greens, supported the extension of the policy out to the end of the decade in October’s budget.
A Green Party spokesperson pushed back on Mr O’Brien, saying that the party want to instead target Help to Buy (HTB) better.
“The HTB scheme can be accessed by people looking to buy a home worth €500k or less, anywhere in the country.
"But construction costs vary a lot by county/region,” the spokesperson said.
Mr O’Brien’s comments come as his party launched their proposals to deal with vacant and derelict properties, including a new €100,000 grant to help people convert premises above shops into housing.
All members of the public know the “potential” across cities, towns, and villages due to the amount of residential space that is available over shops, Mr O’Brien said.
He added that Fianna Fáil is seeking to increase both the vacant and derelict property grants by €10,000 apiece, with it rising to €60,000 and €80,000 respectively.
Proposals also include introducing legislation to update compulsive purchase order powers within the first six months of a government term.