Seven out of eight properties available to rent are priced beyond the reach of those in receipt of rent supports, a rental sector snapshot study by the Simon Communities in Ireland has found.

Conducted over three days, ‘Locked Out of the Market: The Gap between Rent Supplement/HAP Limits and Market Rents’ highlights the growing disparity between rising rents and Rent Supplement / Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) limits for which have remained unchanged since June 2013. In the preceding two years national rents have increased on average by 18%, according to figures provided by Daft.ie.

The Simon Communities in Ireland have today warned that urgent and immediate action is required to address Ireland’s worsening housing and homelessness crisis. The call comes as new figures from the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) Quarterly Rent Index highlight rising rents, which are pushing the most vulnerable people into homelessness daily. The figures released and compiled by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) for the PRTB show an increase in private sector rents of 6.9% in the 12 months leading up to the first quarter of 2015. Rents for houses were up by 6.5% and apartment rents had risen by 7.8% in this period. Apartment rents in Dublin alone rose by 10.8%. This follows a 5.8% increase in rents nationally over the course of 2014.

The Simon Communities in Ireland have welcomed a new National Economic and Social Council (NESC) report which recommends a range of measures which, if implemented, could have a significant impact on Ireland’s homelessness and housing crisis. The report calls for a secure tenancy model for Ireland which includes greater rent certainty for tenants and landlords. It identifies measures to increase the supply of permanent affordable rental housing, in particular clear and better incentives for the provision of good quality long term rental homes. It also calls for more favourable treatment for landlords with tenants in receipt of Rent Supplement and the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). 

The Simon Communities in Ireland have today warned that the homeless and housing crisis continues to spiral out of control with the Daft.ie Q1 Rental Report showing rents continuing to rise for a record short supply of available homes. These are the first reported rental figures this year from Daft.ie, and show that the increasing prices seen in 2014 have continued into this year. Rising rents are pushing people into homelessness and far too many people are stuck in emergency accommodation for far too long because they have no other option. The figures released from Daft.ie today show that the supply of rental homes are at the lowest point in a decade, with a mere 4,300 homes available to rent in May 2015 compared to 7,200 in May 2014. This figure was at its highest with 24,000 available to rent in 2009. There was also an overall increase of 8.2% in rent prices across the country from the same time last year.  

The Simon Communities in Ireland have warned that the homeless and housing crisis is deepening following the latest published emergency accommodation figures from March 2015.  The March report shows that from February to March the number of adults in emergency accommodation increased by 111 whilst the number of children in emergency accommodation increased by 116 with an increase of 189 from January, representing a 22% increase.