Including cost-rental homes in private tenancy figures gives ‘false impression of growth’

The Irish Times highlights a contentious issue surrounding housing data in Ireland, as new figures reveal that the growth in private tenancies is significantly overstated when state-funded cost-rental homes are included. Sinn Féin, which obtained the data, argues that this practice 'conceals' a lack of genuine growth in the private rental sector, presenting a misleading picture to the public and policymakers.

“

Lumping cost-rental data in with private rental tenancies is not only inaccurate, it gives the false impression that the private rental sector is growing, when in fact it is stagnating at a time of rising demand.

Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Féin's housing spokesman, contends that lumping cost-rental data with private tenancies is 'inaccurate' and creates a 'false impression' of a sector that is, in reality, stagnating amidst rising demand. Cost-rental units, characterized by below-market rents determined by building costs and a lack of developer profit, are delivered through approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency with state financial backing. Ó Broin emphasizes that this is a fundamentally different form of tenure, controlled by the government and operating on a non-profit basis, akin to social housing, and should therefore be counted separately.

“

Cost rental is not-for-profit, Government-funded housing. The targets, eligibility criteria and delivery mechanisms, like social housing, are entirely set and controlled by Government.

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) acknowledges that cost-rental homes are registered through the private tenancy process and are counted as a subset of private tenancy figures. However, the Department of Housing has described cost-rental as a 'new category of private tenancies.' This definitional ambiguity is at the heart of the debate. From an Irish perspective, understanding the true state of the private rental market is critical for developing effective housing policy. Including cost-rental figures obscures the challenges faced by those reliant on the private market and may hinder targeted interventions. The RTB's commitment to providing more detailed breakdowns of cost-rental data is a step towards greater transparency, but the fundamental question of how these tenancies are classified remains a point of contention.

“

a new category of private tenancies.