There is a rally and march in Cork calling for changes to government housing policy.
The event kicked off at 12:30pm at Connolly Hall in the city. Many people on social media are claiming that Irish people should be housed before any migrants.
It was organized by the Raise the Roof group, a coalition of trade unions, housing and homeless agencies, political parties and social, civic and community organizations, reports RTE.
Raise the Roof wants the state to play a direct role in providing more affordable housing and public housing while giving tenants more rent and rent security.
The campaign targets a government-led housing program that focuses on affordability, keeping all public land under public scrutiny for affordable and affordable rental housing, and a reclamation program for vacant properties.
A representative from SIPTU in Cork, who attended today’s event, described the current situation as “a housing disaster”.
Adrian Kane said “very few people” in Ireland are not experiencing a housing shortage.
“It’s a huge problem nationwide but if you look specifically in this city, we have more than 600 people homeless at this stage – and that’s a very conservative metric that’s used to measure homelessness in this country. Average rents in this city are now over €1,400. The average price of a house in this city is over €360,000,” reports RTE.
Mr Kane added, “There are very few people in this country that this housing crisis does not impact upon, from the people who are homeless, from aspiring families looking for home ownership, from people who are spending years literally on a housing list with no opportunity of getting a house, from people in emergency accommodation who are losing the will to live literally,” reports RTE.
Raise the Roof was founded five years ago to advocate for changes to government housing policy.
Before Covid-19 it brought thousands of people to the streets of Dublin and in front of the Dáil in numerous rallies.
During the lockdown, the group organized online webinars attended by housing experts.
In addition, public meetings were held in several locations around the country, reports RTE.
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