People who rent out their homes as they near retirement have talked about the struggle to get housing as availability dwindles and they are forced into poverty.
ohn, who is in his late fifties, rents a room in dublin and said he will have to emigrate as he cannot get affordable long-term accommodation anywhere in ireland.
“I’m half a homeowner because I own half a house with my ex-wife, so I’m currently renting and renting a room for €600 a month in north Dublin,” he told RTÉ Radio One’s Lively Line.
“I decided in September for economic reasons, I will have to emigrate to Portugal. Because first of all, there is nowhere for rent. I’m not just talking about not wanting to leave my county, I’ll be living all over Ireland and I can’t find it anywhere in Ireland.
“So I can go to Portugal. I can get a two bedroom house in a town, a short walk to the beach for half the price I pay for one room here.”
John, who is divorced, said he never thought he would end up in this position at this stage of his life and that it “destroyed” his sanity. He said he was at risk of becoming homeless in the past.
He expressed anger at the situation and at the prospect of leaving his two grown children behind.
The difficulties tenants face when buying a home or finding an affordable rental property have been revealed by independent.ie.
“As part of the divorce I had to leave the house, I was big on that. It’s been tough the last two and a half years, I’ve moved four times because, landlords, maybe you have a contract with them, it doesn’t matter. They’re selling the house, you’re gone, no excuses,’ he said.
“If you really get into a conversation with a landlord and I give them my age and they say, ‘Oh, are you in the house all day?’ and I’d say yes, and they’d say, ‘sorry we’re looking for a professional couple or a professional person.’ I assume they don’t want people to use the electricity, I don’t know what it is.
“And then half of the accommodation does not accept men, the woman prefers.
“It destroys your mental health because you literally don’t know where you are going to live from week to week. The last place I came in here was within a week of hitting the streets, simple as that. The council won’t help me because I own half a house, so I’m not entitled to help, housing allowance, nothing.
“I’m definitely smoking, I’m mad, I’m sad, I’m leaving my two kids here, one in 25, one in 20. I’m so upset about this, but I have no choice, this government screwed me and the government has screwed this whole country for the last 15 years.
“There’s a good chance I won’t come back to Ireland. I’ve paid all my taxes, I’ve worked hard to provide a home for my kids, get them to college and all that, and I get a kick in the teeth at the very end.”
Elizabeth, who is in her late 60s, and her husband, who is in his early 70s, have been renting for 28 years. The couple has to leave their rental home before the end of the month and have nowhere to go.
“We’ve lived in this house for 13 years and the landlord wants it back, I’m in north Dublin, I’ve been in the council, TDs, but we’ve gone over the limit to get any kind of help. We have all our own furniture, we are ready to take anything once we can move in as we have to be gone by the end of this month,” she told presenter Katie Hannon.
“And our family can’t accommodate us because they don’t have the room. Because we’re talking about the [financial means] limit, they don’t want to know it’s that simple. The fact that there is nothing. House prices have simply gone through the roof here.”
A study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shows that one in five people between the ages of 45 and 54 who rent now has little chance of ever owning a home, according to the personal stories of older tenants who struggle to to find housing.
The research shows how this age group is at the forefront of a rising wave of a generation facing a significantly worse pension than today’s retirees.
It also warns that the state is unlikely to be able to fully support the costs of a large number of people renting after retirement.