Responding to the publication of a report by the ESRI today entitled ‘Future trends in housing tenure and the adequacy of retirement income’, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin has called for increased investment in genuinely affordable housing.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“Today’s report from the ESRI in respect of home ownership shines a light on the fact that an entire generation is being locked out of home ownership by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s pro-big developer and pro-investor housing policies.

“The report finds that lower home ownership rates mean there are more workers and families reliant on the private rental sector, and that this trend will continue. This means more and more people are paying sky-high rents into retirement, with higher accompanying rates of poverty.

“This is a scandalous trend – and despite the rhetoric from government – the reality is that home ownership remains a pipe dream for many. The Minister for Housing’s policies are making the problem worse.

“There is chronic underinvestment in genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy, and housing is unaffordable across the board.

“In the first instance, we need to help workers and families who are renting by banning rent increases on all existing and new tenancies, and we need government to put money back in renters’ pockets through a refundable tax credit worth a month’s rent.

“Government must also accept that we need to see affordable housing delivered at scale. This means delivering, on average, at least 4,000 affordable purchase homes a year from 2022 to 2026, as well as 4,000 cost rental homes per year.

“The scandalous so-called ‘Help to Buy’ scheme, as well as the Shared Equity Loan scheme and Croí Cónaithe Cities scheme, which push up house prices, should be scrapped and the funding diverted into the delivery of genuinely affordable homes.

“The housing crisis is devastating lives across the country, and this is laid out clearly in the ESRI’s report. The government can and must do much more; instead of saying one thing and doing another.”