The housing crisis has a long and broad reach, impacting every sector of society. Our third Home Truths paper demonstrates how it's keeping young adults stuck in their childhood bedrooms, unable to live independently of their parents. But it doesn't end there. Should the family relationship break down their housing options are severely limited, pushing them into homelessness. Some of them shared their experiences with Sophie Johnston. Read more
There's been a marked shift in the rates of owner-occupied, private-rented and social-rented households. It's most stark among the over 30s, with the majority now in private-rented accommodation. Sophie Johnston, the author of our third Home Truths paper: Single Adults Living with their Parents, explores why this is a concerning development given that 2 in every 5 single adults new to emergency accommodation in the Southwest come from the private rented sector. Read more
The largest proportional increase in single adults living with parents has not been among the youngest adult age groups, as might be expected with increasing time spent in education; it has been among 25-29 year olds, the significant majority of whom are in employment. On foot of our third Home Truths paper: Single Adults Living with their Parents, Sophie Johnston explores how a dysfunctional housing market is preventing young adults from living independently of their parents. Read more
As we publish our third Home Truths paper: Single Adults Living with their Parents, Sophie Johnston summarises the main points and offers a glimpse into how they might impact young single adults who have to live at home with their parents rather than starting their own independent lives - something which the majority want to do. Young adults who have already experienced significant adversity in their lives are at increased risk of homelessness - 'doubled-up' housing can mean 'double jeopardy'. Read more
In our second Home Truths paper - Vacant Homes in Cork, we noted a large discrepancy between the number of vacant and available rental homes in Cork and that short-term lets may account for some of it. An analysis published recently in the Irish Times sheds some more light on the discrepancy. It reveals a large difference across the country in the number of properties available to rent on a popular booking website for short-term lets and on daft.ie. Sophie Johnson reviews the data. Read more
After the first 12 months of the government's Vacant Homes Tax (VHT), preliminary figures would suggest that some of the conditions for liability might be inadequate. Our recent Home Truths Paper, Vacant Homes in Cork, highlights a significant number of vacant homes on Census night 2022, especially long-term vacant homes. However, a government measure to encourage bringing vacant homes back into use - VHT, appears to have had a very limited impact, as Sophie Johnston explains. Read more
Following the 2023 publication of our first two papers in our Home Truths series, Sophie Johnston explores some recent developments that will increase housing supply here in Cork, offering a glimmer of hope for single households and the potential to prevent homelessness once they come on stream. But she reiterates that more can be done to quickly increase much-needed housing supply for single households at risk of homelessness and those already stuck in emergency shelters. Read more
Rent increases across the country are outstripping those in Dublin, creating two distinct housing markets. An increase in rental supply in Dublin appears to be stabilising the private rented market there. But elsewhere - including here in the Southwest, supply remains at an all-time low and rents continue to increase. Sophie Johnston looks at the latest developments in the context of our two recent Home Truths papers - Single Homelessness in the Southwest and Vacant Homes in Cork. Read more
Rents in Cork continue to increase - up over 10% in the city in the twelve months to Qtr 3 2023. Following our recent Home Truths papers - Single Homelessness in the Southwest and Vacant Homes in Cork, Sophie Johnston explores how single households in private rented accommodation are at increasing risk of homelessness, while single households stuck in emergency accommodation are faced with the near impossibility of private rented housing offering them a route out of homelessness. Read more
With housing supply - and the associated cost of housing, continuing to be a significant factor in our long-running homelessness crisis, we must explore every option to increase supply. In our second Home Truths paper: Vacant Homes in Cork, Sophie Johnston reviews measures some other jurisdictions have implemented to address vacancy as one way of improving housing supply. She summarises them here. Are there lessons for us to learn as we grapple with our own housing crisis? Read more
As we publish our second Home Truths paper - Vacant Homes in Cork, which explores long-term vacancy in particular, Sophie Johnston summarises the report's key findings on rental homes. With a focus on stemming the flow of people being pushed into homelessness and creating more routes for people to exit homelessness quickly, do the findings present an opportunity to improve the supply of much-needed private rented homes? Read more
Exiting homelessness to the private rental market, especially for vulnerable people, brings another set of problems. Sophie Johnston explores how two recent research reports provide further concerning insights into the effects of the private rental market on renter’s lives. Read more