Take three: solutions to the rental crisis

Build rent-specific

accommodation

Renters are not a homogenous group. Students or retired people, for example, should not have to compete with working adults for the same accommodation. There is also a case to be made for accommodation that might not be suitable for people to live in long-term but would suit a young, mobile workforce. This is where Dublin City Council’s plan to allow 45sq m apartments comes in. They would be allowed only in blocks where there are more than 100 apartments for rent only, and could account for just 7.5 per cent of the scheme, which would have to have additional facilities such as common rooms.

Don’t sell off council houses so fast

Tenants of council houses have been able to buy their homes from individual local authorities since the 1930s. A national scheme for the sale of council houses in place since 1973 gave buyers a percentage discount for each year of their tenancy. The most recent scheme, which had been in force since 1995, came to an end in December 2012 but the Social Housing Strategy 2020 includes a commitment to introduce a new scheme this year. Selling off council houses at a discount, without replacing these with new stock, means there are fewer social housing units and more people renting in the private sector.

Affordable rental

This is a concept that got just one vague line in Budget 2016: €10 million from the proceeds of the sale of Bord Gáis Éireann for an affordable rental pilot scheme. The ins and outs are still unclear but the Department of the Environment said it would work on the basis of tenants paying the majority of the rental cost from their own resources, with the State helping to meet the shortfall. “State policy intervention would be applied to bridge the gap between what people can afford and what the market charges.” Such a scheme would be used to facilitate and incentivise private investment into this sector. The scheme would be generally aimed at those in lower-paid employment.