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Rural Ireland could help solve the housing crisis, Miche\u00e1l Martin has said.<\/p>\nRural Ireland could help solve the housing crisis, Miche\u00e1l Martin has said.<\/p>\n
Untapped potential like renting out spare rooms in homes in the country may supply extra accommodation, the Fianna F\u00e1il leader added.<\/p>\n
He reiterated his call on the Government to take steps to address the country\u2019s problems with housing supply.<\/p>\n
The Opposition leader said: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of housing stock out there that is not being used.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already have some incentives, but the evidence is the way the market is developing, with large institutions coming in, there are many people with two houses, three houses, some who because of their own personal finances are renting out apartments or whatever.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they\u2019re finding it difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve got to get that balance right, make sure that we have a steady flow of people into the market plus, you know there\u2019s an existing incentive for example if you have a house and you are living alone that you get an incentive to rent out a room, and so on.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think there\u2019s untapped potential there, as there is in rural Ireland, in terms of utilizing accommodation that\u2019s not been fully utilized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s general election manifesto next year is expected to address the challenges facing housing.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin said: \u201cI think, for us, there has to be a dramatic increase in house building. And we will be saying to people, you know, there are two huge issues here, housing, we can\u2019t do it in a piecemeal basis, we can\u2019t do everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re going to sort this housing out and Fianna F\u00e1il historically built the biggest estates of the past in swathes of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, which dealt with housing crisis of that era.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the current situation could cause society to implode and acknowledged that young people faced huge challenges in affording rent or being able to buy a house.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd too much of their income is being eaten up by excessive rents. And the rents have gone too high and they have to be controlled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has rejected calls for a rent freeze and said the solution to the housing crisis is rent control and an increase in the supply of social and other housing.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin said: \u201cIn the recent by-elections it was on every doorstep at all levels, homelessness, housing, and young people trapped, not in the position to afford housing, not in a position to afford very high rents living with their parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cLots of stress and strain anxiety and despair around the whole housing issue.\u201d<\/p>\n