Just one in seven people renting out of choice
Threshold said its survey found that 64% of tenants are renting because they cannot buy a home. Picture: Sam Boal/rollingenws.ie
Just one in seven people renting are doing so out of choice and people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are increasingly limited to live in house shares with other people, according to a new report.
Threshold, the housing charity, said more than half of the people they surveyed expect to have their own home by 2027, with tenancy insecurity the single biggest reason behind their desire to exit the rental market.
The report, “We are Generation Rent”, comes as Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said there was a “scourge” of vacant sites across the country that could be used for housing.
He said he has written to church authorities asking them to transfer lands banks they own “either at a reduced price or for free” for State social housing.
In their annual Tenant Sentiment Survey 2022, published this morning, Threshold said 212 respondents revealed:
- 14% are renting by choice;
- 54% expect to be still renting in 2027;
- 28% expect they will have their own home;
- 64% are renting because they cannot buy a home, up from 49% in 2020.
The report said “Generation Rent” may conjure up an image of young 20-somethings living in house shares, but said it now refers to “those in their 40s, 50s and 60s and older”.
Almost two-thirds of respondents were aged over 35.
Threshold said almost half of people wanted to leave renting because they did not “feel secure” in their tenancy, with that dread felt most strongly by adults heading one-parent families.
The charity said they assisted almost 20,000 households in 2021.
“Some have delayed starting a family, others have experienced homelessness, unable to accumulate any savings, had to couch-surf or move from one house share to another,” the report said.
“They worry about their future, whether they will still be renting when they retire, what will happen to their children if they must move house and school again, and what will they do if their rent increases.”
Threshold chief executive officer John Mark McCafferty said: “Tenants’ feelings of security in the home have deteriorated since 2020, the outset of the pandemic.
“In 2022, only 38% reported feeling secure in their home. This is unsurprising as only one fifth of those who participated in the survey left their last rental home out of choice and one in four were evicted as the landlord was selling the home or needed it for their own use.
“When it came to moving, 92% found it difficult or extremely difficult to find a new rental home. This is across all family types, income ranges, ages etc. This crisis in the rental sector is being felt across the board.”
He said “tens of thousands of people" need homes as soon as possible.
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