Ryan O'Rourke: Generation Rent risks being turned into Generation Homeless

'Unless things change, and quickly, older generations will be watching their grandchildren grow up through Zoom calls, shipped across the globe in search of a place to live,' writes Ryan O'Rourke

'Sold', 'let by', 'let' and 'for sale' signs as rent rises have smashed through Celtic Tiger levels to the highest on record, the latest property study shows.

Have you ever had that dream, where you try to run, but your legs won’t work?

Well, that’s pretty much how it feels, trying to get on the property ladder in your 20s, and your 30s.

House prices keep rising and the possibility of homeownership seems to move further and further out of reach. 

Prices are now just 4% off their highest ever level in 2007, the height of the Celtic Tiger, having risen by 14.4% nationally in 2021, figures from the Central Statistics Office’s latest Property Price Index show.

Meanwhile, the cost of living is skyrocketing (utility bills, heating, motoring costs)  leaving many of my generation who had managed to save some bit towards a mortgage little choice but to dip into their savings just to make ends meet.

It’s a neverending race we just can’t win. A depressing concept, but not everyone is losing out. There are some out there who are making money, and lots of it, from the housing crisis.

For while my generation is paying €800 a month for a room in shared accommodation, with the banks telling us we can’t afford to repay a mortgage of the same amount, landlords and cuckoo funds are making a nice buck. Rising rents mean rising profits for investors and landlords.

I am sure they are thinking, ‘long may it last’. And last it will, because barring the age-old Irish tradition of emigration, what choice do we have but to rent?

Since hitting their lowest point in 2013, property prices have since risen by 114%, making it virtually impossible to get on the property ladder. 

The only way my peers can manage it is with some big help from the 'Bank of Mum and Dad' and not everyone is in a position to be able to tap their parents for aid.

So I, like so many others, will continue to rent.

The problem has become so acute we have even been given our own name: Generation Rent. And it's not one that sits lightly with any of us.

In fact, Focus Ireland has said Generation Rent must be saved, on the back of a report that highlights Ireland as having one of the most poorly regulated rental sectors in western Europe.

The study Focus Ireland is referring to is Generation Rent and Housing Precarity in Post Crisis Ireland by  Richard Waldron. His analysis found that the number of households in the rental sector with children has surged by 272% among couples and 137% among lone parents with children.

Security of tenure and the length of leases were both found to be key concerns for renting families.

Dr Waldron found those aged 30 to 44 are now the largest age group of renters, a rise of 191% in a decade.

The research also shows how the experience of housing uncertainty is widespread, with 72% to 77% of renters having experienced some degree of uncertainty between 2008 and 2016.

For me, the figures show that Generation Rent is growing up and having kids, but without any of the security their families need.

Focus Ireland director of advocacy Mike Allen has warned that unless urgent action is taken to address the housing crisis, we will see another mass exodus of young people, similar to what happened after the financial crash.

However, this time it won’t be jobs they are chasing, but affordable and sustainable rent.

Some sectors of society may criticise Generation Rent's spending habits, grumble about our Netflix accounts, takeaway coffees and pick holes in the little pieces of escapism we pursue.

However, the rental crisis is not the same as the Celtic Tiger, and excessive spending isn’t the root cause of our woes.

Older generations, those with houses and mortgages paid, and second homes in some instances, should be rooting for us. We’re the sons and daughters of this country. The next generation.

However, unless things change, and quickly, many of you will be watching your grandchildren grow up through Zoom calls, shipped across the globe in search of a place to live, like rental refugees.

The whole situation has left many of us feeling hopeless.

The announcement of a new housing development, of 100 or so homes, doesn’t excite me or give me cause for hope. Because I don’t see them as homes. I see them as 100 new business ventures, where some landlord or investor will be earning a nice income.

This crisis has gone beyond a group of college graduates, struggling to get by. It's now a major societal problem.

Thousands of families, single parents and children, who will spend the next year, and beyond, living on the verge of homelessness. Fearing the next rent hike and possible eviction.

And as Focus Ireland's Mike Allen states, children being homeless is the most unforgivable aspect of this crisis.

We need immediate change, or 'Generation Rent' could very quickly turn into 'Generation Homeless'.