To add insult to injury local authority rents have taken a huge hike over the past five years. Maintenance too is virtually non-existent because the local authorities let so many of their craft workers and labourers go. Agitation around housing issues is still very sporadic and localised and unfortunately sometimes takes the form of scapegoating vulnerable tenants like Travellers and forcing them out of their houses. This has already happened this year in Tallaght and Clondalkin. Even with such a housing crisis ,people are still being evicted because of rent arrears.
People then end up in hostels and wont be housed again until they clear their arrears.
Housing is an issue that has been neglected by the left since the agitation of the Dublin Housing Action Committee of the late 1960s. Linking up the housing issue with other struggles, especially union struggles, is essential.