Co-Living tenants have rights too, says Bacik

Labour leader Ivana Bacik called on the Minister for Housing to clarify in law that those individuals who are taking up homes in co-living schemes are tenants, and that they must enjoy the same protections and all other tenants.

She further called on the Government to bring Ireland’s renters’ rights framework in line with other, comparable countries to ensure decency for all.

The Dublin Bay South TD said  “everyone deserves an affordable home of their own – somewhere where they can sleep, cook and live. Building that kind of housing system requires state intervention, building, and protecting the rights of renters in law. The preference clearly shown by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is to rely upon the private market for solutions; and this has delivered the dysfunctional system we see today. Co-living schemes are emblematic of the substandard results that approach delivers.”

Co-living schemes were a pet project of Fine Gael’s Eoghan Murphy who served as Minister for Housing between 2017 and 2020, with Fianna Fáil watering down the practice once they took over the housing brief in 2020.

“Despite their assertions to the contrary at the time of their inception, these developments were always designed to charge exorbitant rents for cramped spaces with little privacy,” Bacik said.

“These schemes maximise profits for developers without being subject to the same minimum standards as other types of residential development. Although the Government came to this conclusion much later than it should have, it was welcome that legislation eventually followed in 2020 to ban the construction of future co-living schemes. However, fixing this anomaly in our planning law does nothing for those who are now fending for themselves in a rental market which is as overheated as Ireland’s.”

She cited a report from the Dublin Inquirer which found that c0-living schemes are treating tenants as licensees as a way to increase rent and undermining rent pressure zones in the process.

“These tenants represent a small number, relative to the swathes of renters across the country. However, the Government’s failure to protect them points to a broader disregard of the need to protect renters. Many of these renters have been doubly failed by the Government. Many are not renting by choice, but because there are not enough homes for sale or lease as social housing, once they enter the private rented sector, they have much fewer protections than they would have in other European countries. The end result is that purchasing a home becomes an even more remote pipedream due to spiralling rents.”

“The persistent insecurity faced by renters, coupled with the chronic shortage of available accommodation, underscores the urgent need for meaningful change in housing policy; Government must recognise the severity of the situation and take decisive action to address it,” she said.

She said that her party’s renter’s rights bill, which has been in limbo since 2021, would go a long way to rectifying the problem.

“The bill offers crucial protections against ‘no-fault’ evictions and provides greater security of tenure for renters. Additionally, challenging the developer-led approach of the current Government is essential. We know relying solely on private development will not solve our housing crisis.”

“As they near the end of their mandate, this Government has a choice. They can continue down the path of leaving it to the private sector and tinkering around the edges of the crisis, exacerbating hardship for renters across the country, or they can embrace Labour’s vision for housing,” she stated.

“They must implement policies that prioritise affordability, stability, and security for all. It is time to show leadership and pursue tangible solutions to Ireland’s housing disaster. Labour’s vision for a fair and affordable rental sector challenges this status quo, advocating for the rights and security of renters across Ireland.”