Keeping rent controls in place is crucial if we want to stem the rising tide of homelessness, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.
Deputy Hearne, who is the party’s housing spokesperson, was commenting on the latest homelessness figures, which were published this afternoon.
He said:
“Yet again, another grim milestone for homelessness has been reached.
“The figures show there were 15,378 people living in homeless emergency accommodation at the end of February. Shockingly, 4,653 of them are children.
“Last year, 4,000 families presented as homeless. In the last quarter of 2024, there was an eight per cent increase in the number of homeless families.
“This is a social catastrophe and a personal tragedy for each individual or family involved.
“At a time when the government has signalled that the removal of rent caps could happen this year to favour institutional corporate landlords, today’s homelessness figures underline the importance of keeping Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) in place.
“Eroding existing protections for renters will simply lead to a further rise in homelessness and the numbers of people at risk of poverty – a fact that even a landlords’ body representative was forced to concede on RTÉ radio yesterday.
“What we need is an emergency response to the housing crisis. This means measures such as a no-fault eviction ban; the full reinstatement of the tenant in-situ scheme; and the introduction of a French-type State savings scheme to leverage some of the €160bn in Irish household savings for investment in affordable housing.
“We now have a perfect storm of record rents and record property prices – and a government that is clearly out of ideas when it comes to solving the housing crisis.
“Homelessness and housing have been an emergency for over a decade, yet we are still waiting for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to treat it as such. This crisis needs nothing less than a Covid-type emergency response – not more failed government housing policy.”
March 28, 2025