People Before Profit TD and spokesperson on housing, Richard Boyd Barrett, has said that the government need to intervene in the rental market immediately, bring rents back to affordable levels and implement real rent controls.
The TD said that the 7% reported national rise in rents is showing that the government does not have a handle on the situation. He also said that the recent move by the government to link rent rises to inflation has not worked and will not work.
He said: “Renters in this country are being absolutely crucified while the government takes little or no action which effectively amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
“The government now need to stand up for renters and intervene in the rental market which has gone into the stratosphere. What needs to happen is the government need to impose real rent controls and bring rents back to affordable levels that are linked to people’s incomes.
“20% of workers in this country are classified as low paid and even people on reasonable incomes are at the pin of their collars each month when the rent comes in. How are people who already are finding it impossible to pay rents of this level supposed to shell out more and more each month?”
