Will the government allow people be charged exorbitant rents to live in glorified sheds?
This government’s answer to the housing crisis is to move generation stuck at home from their parents’ box room to a shed in the back garden, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.
“It is reported today that the government will proceed with planning exemptions to allow cabins to be built in back gardens to alleviate the housing crisis.
“The government is asking generation stuck at home to try a cabin out the back. While the government are giving investor funds tax breaks and planning higher rents, it’s sheds out the back for our locked our generation.
“While some flexibility is warranted here, the answer to the housing crisis is not to allow a huge number of log cabins proliferate in urban back gardens.
“It would also be deeply concerning if the government were going to give landlords the green light to use these structures as rental accommodation – and charge people exorbitant rents to live in glorified sheds.
“Latest figures from the CSO show that house price inflation almost doubled in 2024. Today, we learned that so-called affordable apartments in O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin are going to be priced at up to more than €400,000 for a two-bed. On what planet is this affordable?
“House prices are a runaway train and the government has no real plan to address this crisis. Instead the government’s answer appears to be to move generation stuck at home from their parent’s box room to a shed in the back garden.”