Government has “thrown in the towel” on housing crisis, says Bacik

In summer 2021, the Department Of Housing launched its Housing For All strategy to great fanfare.

The policy touted that Ireland would turn a corner on the housing crisis and provide more homes.

Launching the policy, a statement from the Department of Housing read “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”.

Since the launch of the policy, rents have increased by 26.9% and house prices overall have risen by 24%.

In quarter 3 of 2021, when the policy was launched, average rents stood at €1,516.

Figures for Q2 2024 saw the average rent was €1,922.

In September 2021, the average price of a home was €272,000, rising to €337,500 in June 2024.

Social housing targets have also been consistently missed since the announcement of the plan.

In 2023, 11,939 homes were built out of a target of 13,130, while 8,110 new build homes were built, short of the government’s own conservative targets of 9,100.

This research, carried out by the office of Labour leader Ivana Bacik, said the government has “failed” on housing entirely.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said “by any fair marker, this Government is consistently and persistently failing to meet its own targets.”

“An analysis carried out by my office shows that this Government is failing on the three key metrics: the cost of rent, the price of a home, and the levels of homelessness. Rents are up, house prices are up and most shamefully homeless figures are up – we now have 4,401 children in homelessness.”

“These figures are grim, with a story of human tragedy behind each one; a story of major delays, a rental trap, overcooked house prices and systemic policy failings.”

“For anyone struggling with rising house prices, rising rent and rising homelessness, they will be deeply frustrated at the lack of ambition or action from Government in tackling the housing crisis.”

The Dublin Bay South TD noted “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.”

“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.

“From any objective analysis, this Government is failing to deliver on the promise of Housing for Alll. We live in a paradox of plenty, and this Government seems to have thrown in the towel, opting for flashy once-off announcements rather than improving the quality of living in Ireland.”

With housing likely to become the hot-button issue for the 2nd general election in a row, Bacik said “Labour has a clear plan to build better, together.”

“We plan safeguard children and protect them from entering homelessness, to ensure strong protections for renters and to ramp up the delivery of homes at a level necessary to tackle the chronic under shortage in the housing market.

“Our ambitious housing plan is worth fighting for, even if those in Government have given up.”