Housing

What people said about housing

Quotes from the survey

“Currently living in mother’s home, I sleep with my 2 children in 1 room my sister has her child in her room”

Housing findings

• Almost a third said their home was overcrowded – 4 out of 5 of these had children under 18 at home

• Only slightly over one third felt their accommodation met the needs of their household

• 22% were on the waiting list. Of these, 40% had been waiting between 4 and 6 years and another 22% between 1 and 3 years.

• Just over half felt their home was in good condition.

• More than one in three people felt their living conditions negatively impacted their physical health. For mental health the figure was one in four.

• Over a third said they lacked an effective heating system.

• Over half reported damp and/or mould.

• Three out of five reported difficulty getting repairs.

What human rights says about housing conditions

“Adequate housing must be habitable, in terms of providing the inhabitants with adequate space and protecting them from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health, structural hazards, and disease vectors. The physical safety of occupants must be guaranteed.”

CESCR General Comment on the right to housing 4

What Irish law says about housing conditions

Overcrowding

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (No. 22 of 2009)

Poor conditions

Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (updated to June 2022) section 12(1)b(i) outdoor repairs per Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 section 18 [standards for rented houses - can be set by Minister - stipulates only that “a proper state of structural repair” means essentially sound, with roof, floors, ceilings, walls and stairs in good repair and not subject to serious dampness or liable to collapse because they are rotted or otherwise defective.”

12(1)b(ii) indoor “repairs and replacement of fittings as are, from time to time, necessary so that that interior and those fittings are maintained in, at least, the condition in which they were at the commencement of the tenancy and in compliance with any such standards for the time being prescribed”

Ministry for Housing, Planning and Local Government, S.I. No. 137/2019 - Housing (Standards For Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 - private + (ish) housing authority /body

4.2 ‘a proper state of structural repair’ = “sound, internally and externally, with roof, roofing tiles and slates, windows, floors, ceilings, walls, stairs, doors, skirting boards, fascia, tiles on any floor, ceiling and wall, gutters, down pipes, fittings, furnishings, gardens and common areas maintained in good condition and repair and not defective due to dampness or otherwise”

4.3 window restrictors. 4.4 pest control 5. plumbing 6. heating (each room must have heat emitter / appliance / system ‘capable of providing effective heating’) 7 food & laundry [varies private/social]. 8 ventilation 8.1 every room used, or intended for use, by the tenant of the house as a habitable room shall have adequate ventilation 8.2 All means of ventilation shall be maintained in good repair and working order 8.3 adequate ventilation shall be provided for the removal of water vapour from every kitchen and bathroom 9 lighting 10 fire safety 11 refuse/vermin 12 gas, oil, electric.

What the local council says about living conditions

Overcrowding

Citizens’ Info HAP page: once you are housed & receiving HAP you are taken off the local authority’s housing waiting list - they consider you housed. You may still apply to be on the (separate) transfer list. The waiting list is a ‘record of qualified households’ - there is a minimum income level (below HAP). Transfer list info is here

Poor conditions

Citizens’ Info: “Local authorities (in their role as housing authorities) are responsible for enforcing these minimum standards in rented accommodation”, both HAP recipients (within 8 months of 1st pymt) and not (scheduled visits (?))

• Only during office hours except in emergency cases / to ‘make safe’ before further ‘in-hours’ repairs

• only in urgent/emergency cases for people in rent arrears

• tenants are responsible for non-structural repairs themselves

• explicitly says, ‘condensation’ isn’t their problem

• multiple other conditions