Eoghan Murphy Receiving Heavy Criticism Over Co-Living Scheme

Minister of Housing, Eoghan Murphy, has been receiving heavy criticism since publicly supporting the co-living plan in Ireland. In co-living private spaces such as a bedroom or bathroom is owned privately, while, public spaces like kitchens and living rooms are shared among different tenants. Eoghan Murphy calls these new co-living buildings being built as, “very trendy boutique hotels.” This statement has triggered many heated responses from people who believe this type of living is horrible. Some of the critics that he has received includes being called, “out of touch” and a person asked, “what planet is this Minister living on”.

In support of Eoghan Murphy, there has been success in these types of living spaces all throughout Europe and North America. If the developer puts enough money into the space it can become a great option for younger adults seeking more affordable housing options. These spaces do hinder one’s privacy, but it also encourages a sense of community and meeting new people. This could also be an attractive scheme for young adults moving to Ireland for work who do not …

Read More →

Government Housing Fund is Collecting Dust

The Irish government has allocated a large portion of their budget to address the current housing shortage and crisis that is plaguing Ireland. However, due to red tape and many other impediments, much of the budget has not been used yet and is sitting and collecting dust at the moment. Approximately 8% of the 200 million Euro government housing fund has been spent and many people are not happy about this.

The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) was originally allocated 195 million Euros in 2016. Since then only 16 million has been spent and the majority of the budget has been sitting in an account. One of the major problems hindering efficient construction sites is Ireland’s outdated infrastructure. This fund was created to provide investment in public off-site infrastructure including; roads and water. This would cut down costs and time for delivering properties. This fund was created during the government’s creation of the Rebuilding Ireland policy to tackle homelessness and housing issues.

Infrastructure projects have been approved to begin under the fund, but not many have taken off. 30 …

Read More →

Medici Living Group Targeting Dublin for Co-Living Scheme

Eoghan Murphy’s amendment to allow for co-living has drawn a lot of attention from international developers. It has opened the door for cheaper complexes to be built in and around Dublin.

Germany’s Medici Living Group, known as one of the biggest co-living providers internationally, proposed a plan to bring more than 5,000 new beds to Dublin. Luxembourg-based, Corestate Capital, is backing Medici Living Group approximately 1 billion Euros for building co-living accommodations throughout Europe.

A statement regarding why Medici Living Group wants to expand to Ireland, states, “As Ireland is a growing, forward-looking country with a tech hub, we can see our members and future members would be interested in living there.” In addition, they are targeting easy-to-access, high standard affordable accommodation in the city center, which is hard to currently get.

Specific locations that Medici is targeting within Ireland includes; Rathmines, College Green, Ballsbridge, Liberties, North Wall, Portobello, and the Docklands.

A spokesperson for Medici Living Group stated, “As Ireland is a growing, dynamic, forward-looking and innovative country with a tech hub (Dublin) and at the centre of Europe, …

Read More →

IHREC Upset Over Eoghan Murphy

Homelessness is increasing drastically throughout Ireland due to the rising property prices and shortage of available properties for sale or rent. Homelessness numbers reached 10,378 people at the end of April with almost 40 percent being children. In response the government has initiated some new programs and taken action into building social housing. Housing Minister, Eoghan Murphy, has claimed that his new Rebuilding Ireland Program has been working well since he implemented it.

Has Eoghan Murphy spent enough time and effort solving homelessness?

Emily Logan, Head of the Human Rights Body for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), would say otherwise. The IHREC accused the government of blaming this crisis as, “the by-product of market dynamics, or the price our society pays for progress.” Part of the housing shortage and rise in homelessness can be contributed to market problems, but the government needs to step up and take more action into drafting policies that would make a significant difference. The IHREC is very blunt when it comes to pointing the finger, they stated that the rising level of …

Read More →

Reactions to New Rental Laws

Homelessness is an issue of uttermost importance in Ireland. Two staggering numbers mentioned below are being directly addressed by members of the Irish government.

10,378 – number of homeless people as of April

3,794 – number of homeless children as of April

Eoghan Murphy, minister for housing, planning, and local government, blames short term renting (letting) as a big contributor. Ireland has seen increasing numbers of people immigrating over plus many British citizens are moving to Ireland due to Brexit concerns. With this influx of people coupled with an increase of short-term renting, many citizens find the lack of few homes for sale too expensive and are resorting to homelessness.

The new legislation will be going into effect on July 1st. The legislation mainly targets the multinational company, Airbnb, who allows people to post their homes for rent on the web. Owners who reside in a rent pressure zone (rpz) will be required to fill out a form at the beginning and ending of each year. Additionally, a ninety-day total limit per year will be enforced and each rental session …

Read More →

A construction agency has seen a boom in business since the Help-to-Buy scheme

Abbey, a property developer, has high hopes for the Irish housing market.

They are seeing huge gains as the house prices keep increasing. They are especially reaping the benefits from the Help-to-Buy scheme. That’s why they are against the review of the scheme.

The intention of the Help-to-Buy scheme was to encourage first-time buyers and to speed up new supply of houses. It can give first-time buyers up to €20,000 in tax rebates. The scheme, instead, has apparently increased home values than raise supply of new homes. This has raised concern for the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, which brought up the review of the scheme.

 

The Central Statistics Office published on Tuesday that the Irish housing prices went up by 11.9 percent in May from the previous 12 months, driven by a 12.8 percent increase outside of Dublin.

Read More →

Eoghan Murphy wanting to expand mortgage-to-rent

Minister for Housing wants to decrease rules on mortgage-to-rent (MTR) scheme to help expand the programme. Relaxing the criteria will dramatically increase the number of MTR homes.

The goal of the scheme to allow an option for people who can’t qualify for social housing.

How it works?

A group of investors will buy trouble mortgages and will let the houses to the tenants as a form of social housing.

The aim of the programme was to aid around 250 homes a year. Currently, the statistics have shown that from 2012 to the end of March only 240 have went through the programme. This is out of 3,672 applications submitted.

The reason?

This scheme can take up to an 18 month turnaround which is too long for a lot of investors.

To help out the scheme currently, a homeowner can surrender their home to the lender which goes to the Housing Agency. They can offer them an approved housing bodies (AHBs). Then AHBs buys the home and lets it to the borrower as social housing.

The revised version of MTR.

It …

Read More →

Help-to-buy incentive under scrutiny

This past Sunday, current Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said on RTE’s The Week in Politics that the Help-to-Buy initiative introduced by his predecessor is currently under review. Since its introduction in January under former Finance Minister Michael Noonan and former Housing Minister Simon Coveney, the Help-to-Buy initiative has already received nearly 7,000 applicants and has successfully helped a great percentage of them with the purchase or building of their first home. However, the initiative has recently come under fire for exacerbating the problems it intended to solve, and there is speculation that it may be dissolved.

 

The purpose of the Help-to-Buy incentive was to encourage first buyers to enter the market by helping applicants with their deposit through the refund of applicants’ income tax and DIRT other the past 4 years. It applies to first time buyers who either purchase or build new residential properties, and allows them to receive 5% of the purchase price of their new home, with an upward limit of €20,000. It is hoped that the incentive would help more people climb the property ladder, …

Read More →