Simon Coveney urged to introduce rent control measures

Housing Minister Simon Coveney is facing mounting opposition pressure to include rent control measures in a Government plan to tackle the housing market when it is published next month.

The Fine Gael TD yesterday came under repeated fire as he insisted “the problem is not getting worse”, despite a new Focus Ireland report claiming more children are homeless now than ever before.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics programme, Mr Coveney said that a “comprehensive” plan to tackle the linked housing market and rental crises will be published by mid-December.

While declining to detail exact policies in the strategy — which has been reported in recent days to include new subsidies for families earning a net income of €55,000 a year to ease social housing pressures — as hundreds of submissions are still being examined, he said funding will increase by €800m to €1.3bn in 2017.

He said an extra 50,000 social houses are planned within the next five years, and that the strategy will be focussed on “protecting people who are under huge pressure”

However, despite being repeatedly asked about whether a rent control system will be introduced, Mr Coveney declined to confirm the move, instead saying policies must also focus on “not shutting off rent supply”.

The comment was heavily criticised by opposition TDs, with Sinn Féin counterpart Eoin Ó Broin accusing Mr Coveney of “making the same mistakes as Fianna Fáil in the noughties”.

Insisting rent certainty is “one of two policies needed” to address the crisis — the other being increased social housing — Mr Ó Broin said the reality is “figures from the Department show things are getting worse”.

However, despite Mr Coveney stressing this is not true, a report from Focus Ireland yesterday found more children than ever before are homeless in Ireland.

Figures released by the charity last night show that 2,400 children and 1,200 families are now homeless, with the group’s founder, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, saying the issue is directly linked to the housing crisis.

“I know from meeting families who are homeless that we support, it’s the children who feel it the worst,” she said. “Many times, a family who are homeless are often squeezed into one hotel room — three or four people in one room, nowhere to cook or for children to play.

“There are also many single people and couples homeless and they all need a place to call home.”

A spokesperson for Mr Coveney last night said the department works off council figures, which have been fully examined, and that these may differ from the Focus Ireland rates.

Figures released this month by property website daft.ie found the average price for a rental home in the greater Dublin area is 12% higher than a year ago.

Focus Ireland: 1850 204 205