A combination of rent controls and a massive social housing programme is needed to solve housing crisis

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Press Release

23/10/2015

A combination of rent controls and a massive social housing programme is needed to solve housing crisis

People Before Profit has refuted the claims which have surfaced today in the press, that rent controls will not work.

Cllr Bríd Smith said: “What we have seen today and over the last while is a tidal wave of neo-liberal dogma. For anyone to suggest that rent controls are not an absolute necessity is absurd. One example that we can see is from Berlin. On June 1st of this year the Germany government brought in a new set of rules that limit rent increases within a given area, the average cost of new rents in that area dropped by 3.1% within a month. In other German cities that do not have these rent controls rents have remained static.

 

“In Ireland what we have is a homelessness crisis. This crisis has been caused by cowboy developers that have thrown up property all over the country where no one wants to or can live due to the lack of services and amenities. They built all this property as quickly as possible in order to maximise profits. And now what are government is proposing to do is to solve the housing crisis using these people who helped cause the crisis in the first place. It really is astounding.

 

“Rents are now higher than they were at the height of the boom, it is clear that we need rent controls, a massive social housing programme and for the Minister to declare a national emergency. The increased cost of living and the depression in wages in conjunction with sky rocketing rents will continue to push more and more people into homelessness.

 

“With winter on the way we also need to seriously invest in our homelessness services otherwise we are going to have a disaster in our health service.”

 

Cllr Bríd Smith is People Before Profit general election candidate for Dublin South Central. Bríd is part of the Right2Housing movement and has campaigned tirelessly for solutions to the housing crisis in Dublin City Council.

 

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