The leader of the Sinn Féin group on Waterford Council has accused the Minsiter for Housing of ‘sitting on his hands’ while the situation in the private rental market continues to worsen. Cllr. Conor McGuinness said the recent Daft.ie report “is more bad news for renters” across Waterford City and County.
“Does the government have any idea how bad the housing catastrophe has become? There were 14 properties listed to rent for the whole of Waterford City and County. Of these only two are in the Dungarvan-Lismore District, and both of these far exceed the average rent for the county – yet this area is still not classed as a rent pressure zone!
“Added to this is the fact that the number of eviction notices issued so far this year is more than twice that issued in the same period last year,” he said.
“It is clear that Darragh O’Brien and the coalition Government have lost control of the housing market. Two years in office and almost a year into his housing plan and Darragh O’Brien is presiding over record highs in rents, house prices and homelessness. Meanwhile, social and affordable housing is well behind target and the private rental sector is shrinking. Smaller and accidental landlords are leaving in their droves, further shrinking availability.
“The housing crisis has become a housing catastrophe.
“Budget 2023 is the Minister’s last chance to make the level of change required to fix our deepening housing crisis. We need a dramatic increase in funding to deliver 20,000 social and affordable homes every year for the next decade. We need emergency action to reduce homelessness and see need to see a review of the tax treatment for small-scale landlords in order to slow down the disorderly exit of landlords from the private rental sector.”
Cllr. Conor D. McGuinness 