Joe O’Connor, IMPACT organiser with the Boards & Voluntary agencies branch, addressed last night’s emergency forum on homelessness. He said we should no longer be talking about whether Government intervention is necessary in the private rental market, but that the discussion should now be about how the Government should intervene in that market.
The forum was convened by the Minister of Environment, Community & Local Government, Alan Kelly TD, and took place in the Customs House, Dublin. Joe added that all the economic indicators suggest that rental prices are almost certain to continue to rise in the short-term without some form of corrective action.
“There can be no question that emergency rent controls need to be introduced. The market is volatile and driven by a shortage of available rental accommodation. The immediate effect of current demand and market conditions is that those who are most exposed, because of lower incomes and other issues, are being squeezed into homelessness.
“Measures such as linking rent increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) would at least slow the brutal acceleration of rent costs” he said. Joe added that accelerating the construction of student accommodation, on sites such as the DIT campus at Grangegorman, was also necessary in order to ease pressure on Dublin’s private rented sector.
Joe also emphasised the need to press ahead with the implementation of the vacant land levy, which would see developers hit with charges for failing to bring their vacant sites into use. Minister Kelly responded directly to this, and said it will be part of the Planning Bill, which is to be published next week.
IMPACT’s Boards & Voluntary agencies branch represents hundreds of members working in frontline service provision, policy and advocacy within the homeless and housing agencies in Dublin. The branch has engaged in a continuing campaign to protect homeless services budgets this year and hosted the Roof is a Right public meeting in September.
Joe told the forum that the branch continues to be proactive in its campaigning on the issue, and last week hosted a forum at IMPACT’s head office which was attended by representatives of the Peter McVerry Trust, Focus Ireland, the Simon Community, and included presentations by the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) and the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).
“There is consensus among these groups that while the new social housing strategy and funding allocation in Budget 2015 are welcome, immediate interventions are needed in the market to halt the acceleration of what is fast becoming the worst homelessness crisis we’ve ever witnessed” he said.
Joe added that, while no changes are likely to be made to rent supplement in advance of the current review, the review process itself should be accelerated and should include the voices of those working in the sector.
