Just one in five wage earners can now afford the average-priced home.
House prices have risen more than 130% in the last decade.
In many areas, young families need 10 years just to save the deposit.
In 2024, only 75 new homes were sold to first time buyers in Dublin and just 17 in Cork. Home ownership rates have now collapsed below the EU average.
With rents up more than 80% since 2010 and evictions spiking since the ban was lifted last year, people cannot find secure housing in the rental sector.
Homelessness has risen fourfold over the last decade.
Even business groups have warned that housing problems are harming jobs and investment.
We are paying a very high price for the high cost of housing:
Up to half a million young adults stuck in the family home; Young people forced to emigrate because of housing costs; Students whose education is interrupted and harmed; Older renters facing acute housing insecurity in retirement; Delivery of essential public services impaired by the lack of affordable housing for key workers.
The ongoing emergency has emboldened elements on the extreme right. Their false narrative misdirects anger, sows division and lets governments dodge responsibility for the biggest policy failure in a generation.
We need a housing system reset.
We need to deliver large volumes of secure, affordable homes to end the emergency.
The problem is that the government relies on private developers to deliver housing. Developers need prices to stay high - if prices fall, they lose.
We know from bitter experience this model cannot deliver.
Other EU states have shown it is possible to deliver secure, affordable homes, with the State and local authorities taking the lead.
We can’t afford another decade of failure.
Just one in five wage earners can now afford the average-priced home.
House prices have risen more than 130% in the last decade.
In many areas, young families need 10 years just to save the deposit.
In 2024, only 75 new homes were sold to first time buyers in Dublin and just 17 in Cork. Home ownership rates have now collapsed below the EU average.
With rents up more than 80% since 2010 and evictions spiking since the ban was lifted last year, people cannot find secure housing in the rental sector.
Homelessness has risen fourfold over the last decade.
Even business groups have warned that housing problems are harming jobs and investment.
We are paying a very high price for the high cost of housing:
Up to half a million young adults stuck in the family home; Young people forced to emigrate because of housing costs; Students whose education is interrupted and harmed; Older renters facing acute housing insecurity in retirement; Delivery of essential public services impaired by the lack of affordable housing for key workers.
The ongoing emergency has emboldened elements on the extreme right. Their false narrative misdirects anger, sows division and lets governments dodge responsibility for the biggest policy failure in a generation.
We need a housing system reset.
We need to deliver large volumes of secure, affordable homes to end the emergency.
The problem is that the government relies on private developers to deliver housing. Developers need prices to stay high - if prices fall, they lose.
We know from bitter experience this model cannot deliver.
Other EU states have shown it is possible to deliver secure, affordable homes, with the State and local authorities taking the lead.
We can’t afford another decade of failure.