Simon Community has revealed the number of properties to rent for vulnerable people facing eviction is at its lowest ever as the housing crisis deepens.
It comes the day before an expected flood of evictions are initiated as the ban on evictions is set to lapse tomorrow. The charity’s Locked Out of the Market report checks how many properties there are for home seekers to rent at any one time.
The report for March shows there were only 672 properties to rent at any price within the 16 areas covered over the three dates surveyed. This was down 11%, or 85 properties, on the previous low of 757 homes identified in the last survey in December.
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Worse still for those facing homelessness, only 29 of these homes available to rent match the criteria to qualify for HAP (Housing Assistance Payments) government supports. Wayne Stanley, executive director at the Simon Communities of Ireland, described the findings as “particularly stark”.
Mr Stanley said: “In the real world, when we look at these numbers through the lens of the people we support out of homelessness, the private rental market is no longer an option. The consequences of this have been playing out for some time with growing levels of long-term homelessness and individuals and families unsustainably topping up the payments, in order to exit or avoid homelessness.
"Even at this late hour, we are calling on the Government to consider reversing their decision to lift the eviction ban. Keeping the ban in place would give the Government time.
“With that time, we propose that they embed tenants in situ scheme and implement the Simon Bill. This is a homeless prevention measure that targets families and individuals in the rental market who are at risk of homelessness from eviction.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar defended the Government’s housing policy. Mr Varadkar said: “This year so far alone an additional 2,000 HAP tenancies have been created, so that’s people who qualify for social housing and need a new place to go.”
Meanwhile, sparks flew on housing in the Dail again yesterday. Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty claimed the lifting of the ban at the end of March would push thousands toward homelessness.
He said: “Every single one of you over on that side of this room has decided to inflict misery, to inflict pain on those individuals,” he said.
Tanaiste Michael Martin replied: “Significant progress has been made [on housing] which you just simply do not acknowledge and many of your policies would have made the situation far worse.”
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