People Before Profit to table amendments to Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill Coveney’s plan doesn’t go nearly far enough
People Before Profit will table amendments to the Planning Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill today in the Dáil in reaction to Simon Coveney’s rental strategy announcement.
The plans for a 4% annual cap on rental increases for private renters are hopelessly inadequate and totally ludicrous in a context of inflation running at 0%. It will have little or no impact on the rental and homelessness crisis in Ireland. The Minister’s plan only deals with the rental market in Dublin and Cork and should be nationwide. Simon Coveney’s plan is a fake plan that will do little to ease the pressure on tens of thousands of tenants.
While wages and social welfare levels continue to stagnate, and while wage rises for workers are resisted by the Government and employers, Coveney’s s plan will allow for rent rises of 4% per year at a time when inflation is near zero. Meantime landlords of new apartments or houses, or who renovate them will not be subject to rent controls. The measures are limited in time and place and contain too many opt out options for landlords.
People Before Profit amendments are as follows:
- Reduce the ability for landlords to raise rents annually to 0%
- Make the scheme national
People Before Profit will also table a Bill, this week, that would bring rents back to 2011 levels.
People Before Profit TD, Brid Smith, said, “for years People Before Profit have been bringing up the worsening housing crisis and have been demanding that rents be properly capped and that these cowboy landlords, who have been creaming profits off the homelessness crisis, be brought into line. The rent increases that we have seen in this country have been absolutely scandalous.
“We will be tabling amendments that do not allow landlords to increase rents at all. It is quite telling that Fine Gael, who historically are regarded as the landlord party, have only introduced the bare minimum in terms of rent controls due to the huge pressure from the public and left political parties during the worst homelessness crisis in the history of the state.
“We will also table a Bill this week that would seek to bring rents back to 2011 levels.
“It is vital that we declare a national housing emergency and that rents are capped at the rate of CPI(Consumer Price Index). Without these measures that have been proposed by AAA-PBP we will not be able to address the housing, homelessness and rental crisis.”
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Contact- Bríd Smith- 087 909 0166 Nick Lee (Press Officer, PBP)- 087 615 6473