Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil locking single people out of housing
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil locking single people out of housing - The Labour Party
Responding to analysis carried out by the Irish Independent showing the lack of affordable housing for single people, Labour housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD has called for a Dáil debate on housing measures for single people.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“No one is immune from the impact and tremors of the housing crisis. However throughout the lifetime of the failed Housing for All project, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have decided to consign single people to the scrap heap.
“Single income households are growing and deserve affordable housing. More than 400,000 people in Ireland live alone, yet every time the Government talk about housing it’s based on joint incomes. Government continues to set housing policy that is based on the assumption that people should aspire to couple up.
“Analysis in today’s Irish Independent paints a stark image of single people earning decent salaries who are unable to own a home of their own. It’s nothing short of sad and disgraceful that a person earning €62,000 a year is unable to buy in our cities and commuter towns. This means that so many people, including our key workers, are locked out of the chance of owning a home of their own.
“No housing system, or indeed economy, should be trapping people into seeing marriage or relationships as economic leverage to buy a home.
“It’s clear that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have failed utterly to address this, to understand the problems facing the hundreds of thousands of single people in Ireland and to pave the way forward towards a functioning housing market. That’s why I am calling for an urgent Dáil debate to be held to put it in stark terms to this Government.
“Single people aren’t transient and single people aren’t just young. Being single isn’t just a stage of life that people should want to get out of. Home ownership is a legitimate aspiration for all people – single or married, young or old – and we need to put in place supports for collective approaches to home ownership for low and middle income earners.”