Tax incentives for landlords needed alongside any eviction ban, says Sr Stanislaus Kennedy

Tax incentives should be used to stop the “great exodus” of landlords from the private rental market, which is a key cause of rising homelessness, the founder of the Focus Ireland charity, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, has aid.

She said there should be a temporary eviction ban and an expert group should be established to quickly determine measures to encourage private landlords to stay in the market for a fixed period.

Sr Stanislaus was speaking as Focus Ireland issued its annual report for 2021 during which year it helped 767 households move out of homelessness, and a further 521 households were helped not become homeless in the first place. It said there are currently 3,400 homeless children.

[ Number of people now homeless hits another dismal record: 10,805 ]

The charity’s chief executive, Pat Dennigan, also said that urgent action was needed to “stop landlords fleeing the private rented housing market and evicting their tenants.”

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“We need to keep people in their homes in the medium-term while home-building tries to catch up with the huge demands and pressures we face. We still think there needs to be more urgency and investment”.

As well as helping households find a home or not enter homelessness in the first place, Focus Ireland also supported more than 12,300 people who engaged with their services during 2021.

Mr Dennigan said that in May 2021 the number of people living in emergency accommodation hit a five-year low, but that since then the situation has deteriorated and there is record homelessness. “We know it does not have to be this way,” he said.

Sr Stanislaus said rising homelessness was not inevitable but was the result of the wrong political decisions. She called for immediate government action to stop the crisis getting worse as winter approaches.

“The recent lack of action in Budget 2023 is a clear example of the poor political decisions which will mean that more landlords will sell up and leave the market, more people will become homeless. This lack of action is unforgivable as we know most emergency accommodation is full and there are an increasing number of people who have no homes and who are not counted in the official figures.”

[ Winter eviction ban under consideration amid cost-of-living crisis ]

A temporary eviction ban would provide breathing space while the rate of social housing delivery was ramped up, she said. “As a nation we cannot simply accept this crisis by saying it will take time to increase housing supply. This has been the default response now for too long by successive governments.”

The eviction ban that was established during the pandemic had contributed to a significant drop in homelessness, but lifting it, along with the shortage in supply of social housing, and “soaring rents”, contributed to a rise again in the number of households without a home.

The charity had an income of €41 million during 2021, of which €15.6 million was grant income and €14 million was fundraising income. A further €3.3 was rental income, and €7.9 million was “other income”, according to the accounts. The charity owned property worth €154.6 million at the end of 2021.