A lot of renters have been especially hard hit by job losses in the Covid-19 crisis.
In response I have introduced four Bills backed up by financial support to help protect them.
Renters have been safeguarded in two ways. Firstly the ban on evictions when people aren’t allowed move beyond 5km.
Secondly, protections for people who have lost income in the pandemic to ensure they are secure in their homes.
The latest renter’s protection bill going through the Oireachtas deals with rent arrears. These laws have given a safety net and gives breathing space for them to access direct state financial supports such as the rent supplement.
Their impact can be seen in the fact that family homelessness has dropped 42% to its lowest levels since 2016.
There are still far too many families experiencing homelessness and I don’t want people to just make ends meet.
We need to look beyond the pandemic and put in place long-term changes to a rental market that is charging too much and providing too little.
Some parties like Sinn Fein have tried to play politics around these protections and engaged in scaremongering tactics.
Their criticisms that only a small amount of tenants have signed up for these safeguards completely misses the point.
Sinn Fein’s complaint about low numbers taking up these protections is like giving out that the goalie didn’t make enough saves even though the opposition never had a shot on target.
A small number of tenants out of 365,000 will directly need this safety net because the other state financial supports are working.
The Dail unanimously passed this most recent Renters Protection Bill through its final stage as both
Government and Opposition ultimately recognised the need to extend certainty for renters who have lost income before they run out on April 12.
The Government has spent €11billion on Covid-19 supports like the PUP, supports for businesses and extra help for rent as well as putting in place strong legal safety nets like the renters protection bills.
We have not and will not be found wanting in giving support.
However, even the Opposition must agree tenants who wilfully refuse to pay their rent when their income has not been impacted should not be protected.
The same goes for tenants engaged in anti-social behaviour that damages the home and neighbourhood.
That behaviour is deeply unfair on other renters and on decent landlords. These four bills have been short-term measures to deal with the immediate problem of the Covid-19 as it has changed over the
past year.
Over the coming months I will bring in a new comprehensive Bill for renters to include long-term security of tenure, rent levels and dealing with issues such as AirBnB taking units out of the rental market.
Most importantly this year we are also rolling out a new cost rental system for the first time ever in the state to provide new homes at rents a minimum 25% below the market rate.
Through the new Land Development Agency and the most ambitious state housing budget in our history we will build up a new rental system with fair rent and certainty for tenants at its heart.
All the while our new affordable housing schemes will help those renters who want to buy their own home.
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