Sir, - The Housing Action Campaign was set up to fight for one of people's basic rights - the right to decent accommodation. Its purpose is to actively campaign and pressurise the Government into implementing basic rights for tenants, the main demands being: rent control; security of tenure; and an emergency building programme of local authority houses.
The need for such a campaign has arisen because of the failure to provide basic protection for tenants. Rents have risen by 25-30 per cent in the past year. Last year alone 2,737 tenants contacted Threshold, the housing advice organisation, in connection with eviction notices. Local authority housing plans are ludicrous; with 50,000 people on waiting lists, the Government plans to build 300 houses in the next three years.
The 1992 Housing Act, introduced to grant important rights to tenants, has failed to have any effect. Landlords are successfully flouting the laws without any fear of action, there have been no convictions of any landlord and despite the legislation insisting that all landlords are registered with local authorities the figures for the end of 1997 showed only 25,799 registered out of an estimated 90,000 private rented tenancies.
The Housing Action Campaign has established action groups in a number of area in Dublin, in Cork and in Galway, with plans to spread across the country. A series of public meeting are planning, beginning in Ringsend (Thursday, April 22nd, Trinity Inn, Pearse Street) and Fairview (April 22nd, Committee Room, Carlton Hall, Shelmartin Avenue).
Anybody interested in joining the campaign should contact Grace Lally, Campaign Secretary, at (01) 4735071. - Yours, etc., Camilla Fitzsimons,
Rathmines/Ranelagh Branch, Housing Action Campaign, Dublin 6.