Emergency action is needed to reduce rents in the private rental sector as Galway’s rents continue to rise, Sinn Féin’s Louis O’Hara has said.
O’Hara’s comments came after Daft’s report which showed rents increasing by 21% in County Galway and by 12% in Galway City over the past 12 months.
The report revealed that new rents now stand at a staggering €1,438 in the County and €1,867 in the city.
O’Hara said the government must ban rent increases for all existing and new tenancies for three years, and to put a full month’s rent pack into every private renter’s pocket.
“This is totally unaffordable for people on ordinary salaries in Galway. People need a break from sky high rents now. It’s clear that Government has totally lost control of the housing market,” he said.
“Government has failed to deliver a sufficient volume of social and affordable homes. Their controversial policies such as Help to Buy and the Shared Equity Loan have pushed up house prices.”
O’Hara said that ordinary people in Galway are left paying the price for Government’s failures.
“People in Galway are trapped paying out of control rents, or living in cramped accommodation while they watch their dream of home ownership continue to slip even further out of reach.”
The East Galway rep said that the government must understand that unless there are 20,000 public homes a year, then this crisis will continue.
