BUDGET 2016: Failure to cap private rents criticised

The Simon Community has criticised the Government for failing to introduce rent certainty measures in the budget.

With 90,000 people on social housing waiting lists, and 4,868 people in emergency homeless accommodation nationally — 707 families with 1,496 children and 2,413 single people — the charity said rent certainty measures are essential in a bid to tackle the growing homelessness crisis.

“Such measures have been recommended by the Government advisory body the National Economic and Social Council [NESC],” Simon’s spokesperson Niamh Randall, said.

“That these proposals have been blocked at a time when there is such limited social housing supply is appalling.

“Without such measures people will continue to find rents unaffordable and will continue to be pushed over the edge into homelessness.

“Rent certainty would provide the tenant and the landlord with certainty and security with tenancies.”

Environment Minister Alan Kelly said more than 17,000 housing units will be delivered in 2016 and that over half of his department’s budget — €811m — will go directly to support a range of housing programmes, including social housing, with €112m in funding for local authorities to meet housing needs.

He said the housing capital spend will come to €432m next year, €56m more than last year, which will see the continued acceleration of local authority direct build and acquisition of properties. “The number of housing units to be delivered through this mechanism will be more than 1,000 which compares to 285 units as recently as 2014,” he said.

Housing bodies also play a vital role with local authorities in meeting housing need with the total number of units to be provided in 2016 at over 1,500 — almost two and a half times the 2014 output, he said.

The allocation of an extra €17m to address homelessness will bring the homeless budget to €70m next year — a 55% increase since 2014, he said.

But the only mention of rent measures was an increase in the rent limits for the Homeless HAP Pilot project, which the minister said would allow significant numbers of homeless families in Dublin to move out of hotel and emergency accommodation and find homes.

Ms Randall criticised the Government’s failure to increase rent supplement levels.

”Our Locked Out report (August 2015) showed that 92% of properties on the market are outside of the reach of people on state rent support.

“If people cannot afford growing market rents with the limited state support provided we will continue to see people becoming homeless and people prevented from leaving homelessness behind. It is almost impossible to find accommodation that falls within the supplement limits.”

The Irish Property Owners’ Association, the national representative organisation for landlords, said the Government had once again missed a golden opportunity to rectify the private rental sector.

Its chairman, Stephen Faughnan, said the tax treatment of the private rental sector is still not workable or treated the same way as every other business.

“It is the State’s responsibility to provide housing for its citizens and the private rental sector can help with this goal,” he said.

“However landlords are leaving the sector due to the unfair tax treatment.”