Govt failing renters in Fingal
Labour By-Election candidate for Fingal, Cllr Duncan Smith, has said the Government is continuing to fail renters in Dublin North County.
It comes as the latest quarterly report from Daft.ie shows average rents in the area have risen by a whopping 5.6%.
Cllr Smith said:
“Today’s report from Daft makes for grim reading and shows that spiralling rents have now hit an all-time high.
“A breakdown of the figures in today’s Irish Independent show that rents in Dublin North County, which includes areas in my own constituency like Swords, Balbriggan, Rush and Lusk, have seen the highest year on year increase in the capital of a whopping 5.6 per cent.
“This is putting a huge amount of pressure on people who are already struggling with the high cost of living and expenses such as childcare.
“It is clear that after more than three years, this Government’s housing strategy is not working.
“Rent Pressure Zones are not succeeding in capping rents and essentially give landlords carte blanche to raise rents by 4 per cent for those already in leases.
“The Government, and their partners in Fianna Fáil must move now to immediately freeze rents and give renters a much-needed break.
“The reality is that the State must start building more social and affordable homes on an enormous scale to meet the massive demand for housing in this country.
“Labour, is the only party, that has a clear plan to this by creating a €16 billion fund, without raising taxes, to fund the construction of 80,000 homes on public land over five years.”