Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway Walsh has said that the latest report on house rental prices has shown the government has 'lost control' of the housing market.
The report compiled by Daft.ie showed that average rents in Mayo have risen to €983 pre month, a 16 per cent increase on this time last year and up 90 per cent from its lowest point in 2006. On the property website there were just 20 homes to rent in the county on Wednesday this week.
Deputy Conway-Walsh said this week: "Rents were already far too high and too many people across the county are trapped by the housing crisis and locked out of owning their own home. This is a very worrying crisis and people cannot afford to continue paying these spiralling costs.
"Workers and families on ordinary incomes here cannot afford to fork out these huge sums for rent every month, when they are already struggling with a cost of living crisis that is seeing their bills soar. Every day, people are contacting me looking for help with this crisis, including young families stuck in cramped flats that they're paying through the nose for, and young people living at home with their families while they anxiously watch house prices creep further and further out of their reach.
"It is clear that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and the Government have lost control of the housing market. After two years in office and almost a year into his housing plan, Darragh O’Brien is presiding over record highs in rents, house prices and homelessness. Meanwhile, social and affordable housing is well behind target and the private rental sector is shrinking. This out-of-touch Government simply don't get how serious this crisis is.
"Budget 2023 next month is the Minister's last chance to make the level of change required to fix our deepening housing crisis. We need a dramatic increase in funding to deliver 20,000 social and affordable homes every year for the next decade. We need emergency action to reduce homelessness and slow down the disorderly exit of landlords from the private rental sector.
"The Government’s failure to fix the housing crisis is devastating the lives of renters in Mayo who are forced to pay the price for their inaction. Sinn Féin in government would tackle the housing crisis."
The housing situation when it comes to student accommodation in the county town of Castlebar has also reached a crisis point, with very little rental accommodation available ahead of the new academic year starting in the Atlantic Technological University campus in the town.
This week local Fine Gael councillor Ger Deere spoke out about the crisis in the town, saying: "We heard a report from the students union in Castlebar this week that there is only one house available for students.
"Over the years we had two student accommodation blocks in Castlebar, but the tax relief has gone on them and a lot of them have been sold on or rented out on a long term basis, so we have a serious problem on our hands in Castlebar.
"We are looking at the Castlebar area development plan in the next few weeks and are going to have a look at incentivising student accommodation in Castlebar. It is a serious problem, the eye was taken off the ball a couple of years ago.
"We are going to have to look at material contravention for a lot of areas that were zoned for different areas for planning; we will have to change that very quickly or adapt some of the buildings around the town for student accommodation.
"The student accommodation that was built on the Ballinrobe Road in the town had a ten-year tax relief on them and they had to be let to students; that has gone now and the legislation around that needs to be looked at again and made sure they are for long-term rental for students.
"A lot of work has been done in getting the Technological University into the town - but we are at a real crisis point at the moment."
