Many people in Offaly feeling 'crushed' by Housing Crisis
MANY people in Offaly are feeling “crushed” by the Housing and Cost of Living Crises, a Councillor told Monday's meeting of Birr Municipal District.
After listening to the Housing Report for the District, which was presented by Senior Executive Engineer in the Council's Housing Section, John Cunningham, Cllr Seán Maher asked the Executive Engineer a number of questions and made a number of points.
Cllr Maher said he is receiving a lot of phone calls on a regular basis from people throughout Offaly, “from Tullamore to Birr to Shinrone” who are complaining to him about feeling trapped and crushed by the housing system as it presently exists.
“These people are really struggling,” the Councillor remarked. “They are working really hard. They are in jobs, they have kids, but they have no hope of getting out of their situation. Their rents are a burden for them but if they want a social house their wage means they are beyond the threshold. If they apply for a mortgage, they can never get a high enough mortgage. Often, they tell me, the highest mortgage they are offered is €125,000, which is nowhere near enough to buy a house in the current climate.”
Cllr Maher said there are good and bad landlords, as there are good and bad tenants, but unscrupulous landlords are evicting tenants in order to get high rents. “These struggling, employed people who I am talking about, the squeezed middle, could be renting a three bedroom house for years for €800 a month; but their landlord, influenced by the way the market is going, knows he could get better-off tenants who could afford €1,400 a month, therefore he evicts the €800 a month tenants.”
Cllr Maher asked the Senior Executive if the County Council has a Register of the vacant properties in Offaly. There was no answer forthcoming to this question. Cllr Maher said there are hundreds if not thousands of vacant properties in South Offaly, including much empty space above shops. “The banks are owners of some of these vacant properties. I know of a number of cases where the banks have been sitting on the vacant properties for years. I think we need to introduce, on a national level, a Vacant Property Tax, because the problem has been going on for years and something has to be done.”
The Councillor pointed out that because so many people are seeking properties to rent, this fierce competition has led to a massive inflating of the rents.
“When I was a young man the system was better. Now it's really hard, if not impossible, for many people to get on the property ladder. Most people's wages are not in line with the cost of housing and the cost of living. I've been told to get on the property ladder you would need to be earning €60,000 per annum. The average wage in Offaly is nowhere near that, it's about half that. I know of many cases in Offaly where there are three generations of the one family living in the one house.” He said he believes government housing schemes such as the First Time Buyers scheme are something like Ponzi Schemes.
Cllr Maher also pointed out that he quite frequently gets complaints from tenants who are on the HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) scheme, which is a social housing scheme, who are claiming that their HAP accommodation is not fit for purpose.
“I advise them to engage with their landlord, because often that's the best way forward and it yields positive results. If it doesn't then I advise them to go to the RTB (the Residential Tenancies Board). Some of the less scrupulous landlords don't even register with the RTB. They get away with it because the current system often looks more favourably towards the landlords.”
Cllr John Leahy called on the Approved Housing Bodies, such as Oaklee and Respond, to build more houses.
“I don't think Approved Housing Bodies are doing enough. Offaly County Council's housing stock is currently 2,217 but the way things are going, because of the demand, that could rise to 3,000 or beyond, which would be a huge strain on the Council's budget.”
Cllr Leahy added that he thinks the Mortgage to Rent scheme should be advertised more because many people are not aware of it. “The Mortgage to Rent scheme is a great scheme run by the government. It helps homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes due to mortgage arrears. It lets them switch from owning their home to renting their home as social housing tenants. It's overseen by the government's Department of Housing. It really gets people out of a hole.”
Cllr Leahy said he thinks the housing situation is improving in Offaly. “We are seeing a huge number of new builds coming on board. At one stage a lot of the calls we Councillors were getting were in relation to housing problems, but now housing is probably third on the list of the most pressing problems.”