by Alan Jacques
RISING rents in Limerick are “out of control” and a huge number of low paid people in the Mid-West are now unable to rent privately.
That’s the view of Limerick Sinn Féin councillor Maurice Quinlivan who says that many of those entitled to rent supplements cannot find accommodation with the current level of rent limits.
Cllr. Quinlivan made his comments following the release of figures from the online housing agency Daft.ie, which revealed that rents in Limerick have increased by more than six per cent in a year. He is now calling for major social housing investment and an immediate increase in rent supplements in order to tackle the serious shortage of housing and the rising residential rents.
“The cost of rented accommodation is rising at unprecedented rate but income and salaries for working families are certainly not. Accommodation is increasingly unaffordable and is in no way related to the quality of accommodation on offer,” said Cllr Quinlivan.
“These figures come at a time when we are also aware that a huge number of rental properties fail to meet even the basic standards. We have an on-going situation where tenants are paying astronomical rents for what can in some circumstances only be considered slum accommodation,” he alleged.
Cllr Quinlivan insists that a number of immediate proactive measures are now needed to address the State’s rental and housing crisis. He believes that the Government need to introduce some sort of rent controls to stem the hikes in prices and stop the steady flow of renters into homelessness.
“We also need a major investment in social housing to take pressure off the private market and further stabilise rents. Continued reliance on private market through Rent Supplement, RAS and HAP will keep rents high and tenures unstable. This Government have announced some building plans but they still fall short and are simply not up to the crisis facing families and individuals looking for rented accommodation,” he concluded.
