It has never been clearer that Government housing policies are the leading contributor to evictions and homelessness, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne said:<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s figures show there were a record 17,517 people living in homeless emergency accommodation at the end of March. Shockingly, 5,571 of them are children, another devastating record.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost six years on from the Coalition\u2019s first combined housing plan, Housing for All, the number of children in homelessness has more than doubled, yet Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael shout from the rafters that they\u2019re doing a good job in housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s damning figures are a direct result of the Government policies, particularly the rent regulations introduced on March 1st, the lead up to which saw a dramatic increase in evictions, the likes of which have not been seen since the famine – Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael have incentivised landlords across Ireland to evict their tenants.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvictions in the final quarter of 2025 were up 41% on the same period the year before, while over 20,000 notices to quit were issued last year alone. Yesterday, we learned that there were only a meagre 14 properties available to rent within the limits of the HAP scheme across 16 local authority areas last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs landlords seek to reset rents to market rate by evicting their tenants utilising legal loopholes, HAP tenants who receive an eviction notice are now faced with a wasteland of a rental market that does not cater to their needs, and are at a heightened risk of homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe capacity for Local Authorities to use the Tenant in Situ scheme as a homelessness prevention tool has been totally diluted by the reduced overall funding it is to receive in 2026, making the outlook even more dire for those in housing precarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the housing emergency reaches new lows this year, the best the Government has been able to conjure up is a \u2018Beds in Sheds\u2019 initiative, which amounts to a carte blanche for unscrupulous landlords to build back garden Airbnbs or substandard rental pods.<\/p>\n
\u201cHousing Minister James Browne\u2019s tolerance for record-high homelessness has cemented his position as the Minister for Evictions and Homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government has acted with urgency to give tax breaks to investor landlords, removing rent controls so they can wreak havoc in the market, but for those facing eviction they refuse to take emergency action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m calling on the Minister to immediately introduce a ban on no-fault evictions, as well as an increase in HAP limits to create more qualifying properties for HAP tenants facing eviction.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce these long-needed emergency measures have been taken, the Government must adopt a solutions-based approach to housing, such as the Social Democrats Homes for Ireland State Savings Scheme, a State Construction Company, and a referendum for the people of Ireland to enshrine a right to housing in our constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
April 24th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has never been clearer that Government housing policies are the leading contributor to evictions and homelessness, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne said: \u201cToday\u2019s figures show there were a record 17,517 people living in homeless emergency accommodation at the end of March. Shockingly, 5,571 of them are children, another devastating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[663,10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homelessness","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n