'Life is stalled' for young teachers due to housing crisis, says TUI delegate
Laura O'Sullivan, a history and geography teacher at Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí, described the rise in the price of housing materials as 'just insane'.
Teachers have urged a national protest on the housing crisis, declaring that they and their students are “locked out of the market” across the country.
Pay increases to teachers have been "effectively wiped out" by rising housing costs, the TUI said, as members voted on Wednesday to campaign for a referendum providing for the right to housing, along with rent controls, affordable student accommodation, and a State-led building programme for social, affordable, and energy-efficient housing.
Laura O'Sullivan said that she and colleagues at Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí in Co Cork have seen "life get stalled" as a result of the housing crisis.
Now in her late 30s, she has opted to build a house in Bantry, but has struggled as obstacles are increasingly in store even after getting approval for a mortgage, she said.
"The costs are just increasing all the time. I'm waiting now to see if they come down to a reasonable level."
She said others in a similar position have found that some materials needed for their home were rising by 33%.
"That's just insane," she said.
Her school has a younger age profile among its staff, with some commuting up to 100km to Bantry, while working part-time hours.
"They're looking to progress in their lives, but they can't," she said. "They can't get a mortgage because they don't have permanency, so they're locked out too."
O'Sullivan, who is the school's TUI delegate, said the housing crisis has been having a damaging effect on students too.
"You find that extra supports are needed for some students by schools and it's due to housing eating [into the family's pay], so some students don't turn up with books," she said. "They can't be afforded."
Donal McElligott, TUI area representative for Cork, told the that the age profile for teachers in the city is older, but many have found the housing crisis affecting them in a different way.
He said many, including himself, have adult children at home who cannot afford to rent. As a result, "money that has been saved goes more and more in their pocket to help them" as they try to find somewhere to live on their own.
Ms O'Sullivan said it has been frustrating that options are reduced in West Cork whether due to Air BnB, restrictions around standalone housing or, further afield, the actions of investment funds that have snapped up new homes.
"It seems the Government are able to talk a lot about it, but there's been very little action," she said.
