A young family is facing eviction from their home of 10 years after the local council declined to purchase their apartment from their landlord and they could not afford to buy it themselves.
Paul Harney (42) lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, with his wife and daughter, Lia.
He is a self-employed videographer, while his wife works part-time and is currently interviewing for jobs as a clerical officer.
In the 10 years they have lived there, their rent has risen from €1,500 to €1,820 per month.
Council’s all-out offensive on Airbnb style-lockboxes won’t solve the mess that is Dublin
Social housing firm may scale up Irish business again on hope of policy U-turn
Housing: Back to the drawing board for the Government or more of the same?
‘We’re just about getting by’: Young family faces eviction after council declines to purchase home from landlord
“It’s tough, we’re just about getting by,” Mr Harney says, although he admits his landlord could charge a lot more for the property, and in that sense the rent pressure zones have worked in their favour. In these zones, rent increases are capped at 2 per cent per year.
The family first received an eviction notice in mid-2022 because the property owner wanted to sell. Their landlord “wanted to do right by the family”, and offered to sell it to South Dublin County Council.
The process of applying for this took months, Mr Harney says, and in the end it transpired the property was valued above the capped amount the council could pay.
After this, the family secured the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) to help with their rent, which allowed them apply for a separate Tenant in Situ Scheme for HAP recipients.
“We were a little bit hopeful,” Mr Harney says, but it transpired they did not meet the criteria for this scheme either.
Time is now running out on their eviction notice, and they are struggling to find anywhere else to live.
“In the past 16 months, we’ve viewed 15 rental properties, without success. Each viewing has over 20 people attending, and landlords tend to avoid renting to families with children or those receiving HAP support,” Mr Harney says.
“I’ve looked into emergency accommodation, but there’s nowhere for us to go. I work from home and have all of my equipment in the spare room, I can’t bring that with me to a hostel.
“There’s no other outlet for me unless I get another rental. I can’t afford to buy.”
While he has noticed an increase in the number of places being advertised to rent compared to last year, he has also seen a rise in the number of people attending viewings and is beginning to fear what might happen if they don’t secure a place.
“There’s a fear there, absolutely. We look for places around the clock, I have a viewing today and another on Friday… we are looking around the clock, but nobody is getting back to us. The effort never ends.”
South Dublin County Council was contacted for comment.
