25,000 petition signatures delivered to Cabinet ahead of meeting on Cuckoo Funds

A petition signed by more than 25,000 people calling for the Government to scrap tax breaks for Cuckoo funds, build public homes, strengthen tenant rights, and put the right to a home in the constitution has been delivered to the Cabinet ahead of their meeting this morning. 

Speaking this morning, petition starter Rory Hearne said:

“As the Cabinet is set to meet to discuss the issues of investors buying up homes, they must realise that the public is opposed to increased role of cuckoo fund investors buying up homes, not just housing estates in commuter belts, (houses and apartments are homes) and then renting them out at unaffordable rents.

First time buyers, people looking to buy a home, and people seeking to rent an affordable home, and local authorities and AHBs looking to buy social housing are all negatively affected by these real estate investor funds buying up houses and apartments”

The petition reflects the anger and frustration of people living in Ireland, but according to Emily Duffty, Deputy Director of campaign group Uplift who supported the petition, it also shows the generations who’ve been forced to suffer, are hopeful and defiant’

“My generation were told that we could either leave Ireland or accept a terrible quality of life of unaffordable housing, insecure jobs and underfunded primary health care.Now, as many of us look to put down roots, we are once again being told that there is no room in Ireland for us – while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil continue to support the interests of corporate investors and landlords over that of ordinary people who want to have a secure home and a stable community.

“We can see that most people in Ireland support public homes on public land, literally thousands of people fought for public developments on our land at O’Devaney Gardens and Oscar Traynor Road, but the national Government has fought us every single step of the way. It’s time for them to build public homes we can all afford, and end tax breaks for the rich, or they’ll very rapidly become even more politically irrelevant with younger generations.”

The petition is a clear demand that the Government must implement meaningful and effective and immediate measures to stop the real estate funds.

The petition calls for:

1. Scrap investor tax breaks – scrap REIT tax
2. Impose investor tax of 50% on profits
3. Restrict sale of new developments to individual home buyers & not for profits
4. Build public & affordable homes on huge state lands
5. Right to housing in our Constitution
6. Remove landlords ability to evict tenants for sale & no fault evictions

Additionally, there are other measures that could curb the funds and help make housing affordable including a vacant and derelict homes tax, double the capital spend on building public social and affordable and cost rental homes, implementing a rent freeze on new and existing homes (reducing 4% to RPZ to o%) and rent affordability measures.

“This is a turning point in the housing crisis.

“The public will not accept anything other than a radical change in housing policy and the delivery of actual affordable secure housing.

“This is a social catastrophe, and Uplift and Rory Hearne have started another initiative which is getting people to tell their housing crisis stories.

“These are being shared on twitter using the #EndHousingCrisis and #HomeAHumanRight – they are shocking and tragic stories of the massive human cost of the housing crisis. These will continue to be gathered and highlighted to keep momentum on the housing issue.”