Katherine Ormerod: 'I want to rehabilitate the esteem of midlife renters like me'

More Irish people are renting for longer. An author celebrated for house makeovers reveals how revamping your 'not forever home' empowers

Katherine Ormerod: 'For many people being in a beautiful environment is an incredibly uplifting and empowering thing — especially if you’ve made it yourself.' Pictures: Yuki Sugiura

Over Zoom, Katherine Ormerod is listing some fairly depressing statistics about the UK rental market and the distribution of wealth. The situation in Ireland is similar and the issues run deep. We’ve all seen the news or experienced it ourselves — housing shortages, issues with student accommodation, renters living in overcrowded properties and even sex for rent and renting longterm can also have a serious impact on a renters’ future financial security.

According to the Central Bank of Ireland and the CSO, the richest 10% of Irish households own about as much wealth as the other 90% but housing assets make up three-quarters of the wealth of that 90% as opposed to just 50% of the wealth of the top 10% meaning that the main asset of those who aren’t super rich is their home.