Labour leader and housing spokesperson Ivana Bacik has criticised Government for failing to meaningfully tackle the housing crisis.
Deputy Bacik said, “The housing crisis is going backwards under the watch of Fianna Fáil. By any fair marker, this Government is consistently and persistently failing to meet its own targets.”
According to Ms Bacik, an analysis carried out by her office shows that the Government is failing on the three key metrics: the cost of rent, the price of a home, and the levels of homelessness.
Since the Government launched its “Housing for All” strategy in the summer of 2021, rents have increased 26.9%, house prices have risen by 24% and there has been a 70.4% increase in child homelessness.
“Coupled with almost 25,000 eviction notices being issued in the past year alone, it should come as no surprise that we have reached record levels of homelessness – rising from 8,656 people living in homelessness in September 2021 to 14,429 people now in homelessness based on the Department’s most recent update in July of this year,” Deputy Bacik said.
“Even when we look at supports for people hoping to get on the housing ladder, the Government is failing to provide equality of access. First time buyers are locked out of supports when buying a second hand home, and many of the grants presuppose that people can pay upfront and claim back the outgoings later. That’s just not a possibility for the majority of people in the housing market,” she continued.
“From any objective analysis, this Government is failing to deliver on the promise of Housing for All: that ‘every citizen in the State should have access to good quality homes: to purchase or rent at an affordable price; built to a high standard in the right place; offering a high quality of life.’”
