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CLOSE TO €700 million was spent last year on rent subsidy schemes paid to private landlords by the state.
Figures obtained by Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin show that in total, €695,346,000 was spent on rent subsidy schemes throughout the course of the year in 2018.
The spending comes from both the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Housing, and shows the millions that is put into the private rental sector to support tenants in housing.
Construction of housing has been ramping up from a low base over the past three years since the launch the government’s Rebuilding Ireland Housing Action Plan in July 2016.
The plan set targets to combat spiralling rents and a growing homelessness problem by building more general and social housing, coming up with ways to keep people in their homes and improving rights in the private rental sector.
Last week, it was revealed that 4,251 new social houses were built in 2018, slightly below government targets for the year. The target for new-build social housing builds for 2018 was 4,409.
As well as new builds, the government in its housing plan places a large emphasis on providing “social housing solutions” to households via the private rental sector by paying subsidies to landlords on behalf of renters.
In recent years, this payment has come in the form of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), which is paid the landlords via the Department of Housing.
Last year – according to Ó Broin’s figures – €276,600,000 was paid in HAP to landlords to support 43,443 tenancies.
As well as this, further hundreds of millions of euros were paid to private landlords for other rent subsidies, including rent supplement, the Rental Accommodation Scheme and long-term leasing.
The total in the year was €695,346,000 an increase on last year. Ó Broin predicts that the figures will continue to rise over the next number of years and eventually top €1 billon.
“This is a massive transfer of public money to private landlords,” said Ó Broin.
It represents bad value for money for the taxpayer as well as the ‘casualisation’ of social housing into short term insecure tenancies that are bad for tenants and for communities.
Ó Broin said that while rent subsidies for low income households were important, the government was relying too much on the private rental sector to meet people’s housing needs.
“This policy must be urgently reviewed and a plan put in place to reduce the number of subsidised social housing tenancies in the private rental sector,” he said.
Separately, the Central Statistics Office reported this week that 18,072 brand new dwellings were built in Ireland last year.
Much and all as the euro is suspect …. when Conservative peers are trumpeting its demise, it makes me wonder whether it’s all bad.
good bit of publicty for his company….
RUN!
(wheres my prize?)
All Noonan has to say is “Thanks very much, we had a good run, I’ll get me coat”
“Dear Mr. Europe,
We have had a good run. We have laughed, cried and worked together for many years but we have grown apart in recent times. The Lisbon Treaty is when the gaps in our relationships became obvious and with the auld downturn things have just gotten worse. The greatest gift of etiquette is knowing the right time to leave a party; not too early for fear of being rude and not too late for fear of being asked to leave. Like Goldilocks now is just right. T’ra. Hope everything works out.
Love
Enda”
It’s nice to read the armchair economist’s comments on the Journal. They weren’t complaining during the good time & now they want to walk away when things get a little tough.
Hi Patrick ,
As indeed my comment was more to have a laugh than thinking it would realistically solve the issues faced , I think as the world seems to be in per-ma crisis we cant forget to have a laugh. I would like to see how you can view the “Good times” If this was the case than there would not be huge credit issues as people would have paid for items with cold hard currency , in my humble opinion it seems more like a credit feast that went pair shape –
I agree it is easier to say ah well and walk away , however I think it is not a case of if the euro fails it is more likely when , and to have some contingency plans in place for ever eventuality is better that scratching heads when it happens.
back to the arm chair and gin hiccup :)
Maybe if we were asked about the euro currency before we were coerced into it, were you asked?….anyone asked?
NOPE.
To quote Blackadder 3…
“I always say, “If you can’t laugh, what *can* you do?” Ha-ha-ha-ha”
“…Take up politics, perhaps.”
Gallows humour. Usually great for a laugh.
@Dermot: The Maastricht Treaty (which we approved by referendum) laid out the target of monetary union, the criteria for joining and the commitment towards the project. It was highlighted in the Werner plan, the Delors report and was made very public during the Maastricht referendum. The UK negotiated an optout on EMU. We were, of course, apparently far more concerned with ensuring that abortion wasn’t introduced here. We had the option to say no as we were in fact asked. You mightn’t like the answer, or indeed the question, but the question was posed.
I don’t think I was old enough to vote on it Seamus…:P
Next Getting countries out of the Euro my Arse!!!
They can well afford to put up €300k!!
They’ve been charging us twice their U.K prices, in their Irish shops for long enough!!!
He’s actually copying someone else. This is not a totally original idea. There was an article in the FT 2 weeks ago about a wealthy Euro sceptic offering mad money for anyone who could solve the euro crisis.
Lisa – you might be thinking of the same guy. The prize was announced in October but only opened for entrants/registration this week. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/16d19598-fb2f-11e0-8756-00144feab49a.html#axzz1dsdtelDs
Yep, it is the same guy after all Gavan. Good work!
Title here was slightly misleading though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KerPlunk_(game) imagine there was 27 sticks and you had to pull them out without the other marbles falling out :) Solved ,well just have to figure out how to pull out the sticks :)
Nuke the site from orbit. it is the only way to be sure.
Just walk away….file for divorce,run anything but the euro….
‘Its nor you Euro, its me, i need to be on my own for a while to figure out what i want from this relationship. I feel a bit suffocated and cant think clearly. I dont know if i want the commitment. I think i might like to play the field for a while, sterling punt. I need space from you,
Has anyone thought about what may happen with all the MNCs we rely on for jobs here if we leave the Euro?
It varies case by case. Companies with a lot of investment here could lose out as their assets would be worth less. Companies exporting from Ireland would have a bonanza with lower costs to produce goods that yield the same prices overseas. However, day 1 losses would be a sunk cost so the ongoing improvement in competitiveness could actually bring more jobs to Ireland.
The only downside is that being in the euro reduces the volatility of earnings by taking away the fx risk. Most companies will be happy to live without the euro for lower costs, a few won’t.
A bigger issue is that it only makes sense to leave the euro if this is accompanied by a default on government debt. A government that breaks its promise to investors can scare away multinationals through uncertainty on the future. A default one day, a rise in corporation tax the next?
Grow a pair,and walk.
If he offered Sterling I’d tell him but what good is offering Euros if we leave the the Euro
The answer in a word, as far as the Conservatives go, is:
“Quickly”
It’s a bit rich coming from them anyway, as Britain isn’t a fully participating member of the EU and isn’t in the Euro. No wonder the Aussies call them “Whingeing Poms”.
Next never have my sizes, sort that out your Lordship!
Very simple; Offer your citizens the chance of a referendum; Germany will make you leave if you!!!! Just like Papandreou tried to do in Greece re: their bailout and Germany & France stipulated that it had to be “Do you want to leave the Eu?”
If there was a referendum on the Euro in countries over the last 5 years, at least half of them would have voted to leave. The EU doesn’t do democracy, so we’l just have to muddle along and see how Brussels can roll over nearly 3/4′s of a trillion euro’s in debt over the next 12 months. The people who lend money don’t believe it can be done, but then again they are just Euroskeptics.
I can guarantee that people who are so adamant about the survival of the Euro are the same people who were blathering about house prices.
Nope. I’ve been renting for 10 years whilst waiting for the housing bubble to burst, but I think the euro will survive.
Even now it was a dumb move, I missed so much of the genuine boom!
I think that was a great idea Sheila. Can’t beat a bit of democracy.
have your say