And Then There Were 6,611

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Peter McVerry Trust tweetz:

Latest homeless figures from DoHPCLG show a net increase of 86 people in homelessness from July to Aug 2016. Total now stands at 6,611…

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31 thoughts on “And Then There Were 6,611

  1. Jake38

    Lousy planning system, outrageous legal and insurance costs, restrictive zoning, farcical limits on building upwards, NIMBYISM, etc, etc, etc.

    1. ahjayzis

      You’re forgetting land price and land speculation.

      Implement the Kenny Report and knock %%%% of the cost of development and completely disincentivise landbanking.

      1. Jake38

        Artificial boosting of land prices caused by lousy planning system, restrictive zoning and farcical limits on building upwards.

        1. ahjayzis

          You missed out no cost to holding zoned land undeveloped for as long as the owner wants.

          Development is a public good. Hoarding land is against the public interest. There’s no constitutional protection for it – punish the land bankers.

    1. Rob_G

      Planning, HAP, council houses, etc, all fall under the purview of county councils, so while the central government does need to take some of the blame for the current mess, a lot of it is due to a lack of foresight from CoCos…

      1. ahjayzis

        You can’t have it both ways.

        We have a castrated local government system and the most centralised governance structure in Europe.
        When that’s the case you don’t get to blame the county councils for not solving a national crisis – you blame the central government that sidelines and overshadows them at every opportunity.

        When a government minister determines bin charges nationwide, we don’t have a fit for purpose system of local government.

        1. Rob_G

          I can see your point… but to what degree is it a national crisis? It seems like it is mainly centred on Dublin, and the three Dublin CoCos.

          In the last couple of years, DCC has voted to reduce LPT (which funds things like homeless services), and opposed plans to raise the heights of buildings in the city centre.

          Of course the central govt needs to act to end the housing crisis, but the CoCos need to meet them half-way…

          1. ahjayzis

            A third of the population live in County Dublin. Another massive chunk in Greater Dublin.

            When a third of the population is experiencing something negative, does that not make it a national issue?

            If it was an issue that affected all of Connaught, all of Munster and a goodly bite of Southern Leinster – 30% again, would it be a national crisis in that case?

          2. Rob_G

            Well, yes, I appreciate that; what I’m saying is that the CoCos concerned with this crisis aren’t really being terribly proactive in their measures to combat it.

    1. ALisonT

      The market did provide for a lot of these people by way of bedsits, however the government shut them all down because a small proportion were not suitable. Now many those single people are priced out of the market and the properties they once lived in a boarded up and being called the magical vacant properties that will solve this problem.
      I know quite a few people who lived in bedsits and most were happy as it meant they could live close to town and the had all they needed.

  2. Nikkeboentje

    I would be interested to know how many people are homeless due to substance abuse and how is this issue being tackled.

      1. Yep

        Fair question. I would be interested to know the numbers and how it is being tackled too. Wondering about it doesn’t equate to all homeless people are addicts

      2. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

        Name the levels you’re talking about, please?
        I’m always interested to know what people mean when they say that.

      3. Anomanomanom

        Its a perfectly valid question, anyone who knows bru hostel, posts on here a few times, will be able to tell you the type of homeless using that place. Building houses won’t help those people. Its substance abuse thats their problem.

  3. DubLoony

    Have been trying to figure this one out for a while.
    Billions allocated to house building – check.
    Derelict sites all over the place / land banks – check
    Availability of skilled labour – check
    Massive pent up demand for housing at all levels, social, rental, affordable, private – check

    In any other functioning society, we’d be throwing up buildings at a rate of knots.
    Was told 2 things are blocking. Local authorities not pulling their weight and developers sitting on their hands, just waiting for tax breaks, incentives (like there are not motivated buyers out there!) so that they make up for their losses during the downturn.
    Both need to be tackled head on.

    1. ALisonT

      A big problem is uncertainty, all the talk of rent control, not being able to evict and the demonisation of landlords makes rental property a very risky option. There needs to be long term certainty for both landlords and tenants. Currently landlords who are making a loss can still pay income tax because the government wont let them write off many of the costs against their gross income.

      Air BnB is just much easier than being a landlord.

    2. ahjayzis

      Massive, punitive, draconian taxation for the banking of undeveloped land?

      Right now it amounts to treason to hold onto zoned land lying fallow.

  4. Niamh

    I’ve recently been in search of a room in Dublin. I have a badly paid but full-time job and I come from Dublin. I have not been able to find anywhere. It’s not just having a rental budget – already stretched to eat two-thirds of my income, conceding to having no savings or security, just to RENT – but that there is no space. And I really mean, no space. Dozens (literally) of emails/phone calls/agent visits and two viewings, one to which the landlord simply didn’t show, the other snapped up by somebody else. I’ve given up, am staying with family, and likely to emigrate next year.

    I cannot imagine what someone with [a] children, [b] rent allowance, [c] less income than me, [d] no family to fall back on could possibly, possibly do in this situation.

    We had ‘the worst slums in Europe’ once, as people are fond of pointing out as a dig at the Brits, when in fact those slums were owned and operated by Irish landlords. We’re heading for slum level again.

    It sometimes seems there is no civil culture in Ireland. If you don’t have a family/tribe to look after your interests, however corruptly, there’s literally no room for you. A whole generation of homeless London navvies exists due to the persistence of that culture in the 50s. Ireland totally ignores it and Irish groups in the UK routinely blame the NHS/British government for that. But it’s entirely down to the much-loved Old Sod and it’s willingness, to paraphrase Joe Lee, to export its own children purely to preserve its own living standards.

    1. Jake38

      @Niamh “It sometimes seems there is no civil culture in Ireland. If you don’t have a family/tribe to look after your interests, however corruptly, there’s literally no room for you.”

      Totally true. It is because we are peasants.

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