The rental market in Waterford City

No, it’s true alright. The city had 12.7% population growth in the last census. And house building came to a stop for years after the crash and still has not recovered. Supply is way behind demand.

the resentment towards welfare recipients is understandable for workers, but it has virtually nothing to do with them at all, we took a complete wrong turn in regards housing a couple of decades ago, and now the whole process is in deep sh1t, with no clear solutions in how to resolve it, and our main political parties are dead set in continue with the modus operandi, it will never work, it was never going to work, theyre in deep sh1t, so we re in deep sh1t!

i actually come from a well known social housing area, id like to think ive learned a thing or 10 about such situations, unemployment is actually extremely complex, particularly long term, its generally due to long term multiple social system failures, in particular our educational and health care systems, most long term unemployed would actually be struggling with highly complex psychological issues, from learning disabilities, behavioral problems, psychological disorders, generational trauma, and beyond.... i.e. their most critical of needs have never been truly met by the state, and theyre simply unable to provide them themselves, many, if not most, being completely unaware of what their actual needs are, for example, requiring psychological help, therapies and supports etc etc

its also important to realise, some of the disorders involved causes people to simply not give a fcuk, theyre hardwired to, many, if not most of these individuals would simply end up in the world of criminality, in which we have no real modes of treatment for, and this may very well remain to be so, thankfully the numbers of individuals with such issues is extremely low, but i truly believe, most long term unemployment is possible to eradicate, if only the appropriate services and supports were implemented. i truly believe most individuals that remain on long term unemployment should in fact be assessed for such issues and disorders, i suspect the cases of positive diagnoses would be found to be extremely high.

again, the resentment towards those on welfare is understandable, but theres actually a lot of myths the life on welfare, again, ive grown up in it, and the reality is actually extremely depressing for most, but of course, there are some that benefit well from it...

the reality of many, if not most on welfare is extreme precariousness, extremely high chances of long term mental health issues, addiction problems, behavioral problems, lower life expectancy, physical and emotional violence, the list goes on and on and on....

again yes, some do have a comfortable existence on welfare, but most certainly dont.....

this was well proven yet again during covid, as the amount of money received by new welfare recipients had to be urgently increased to almost double, almost immediately after its implementation, showing, standard welfare payments simply arent enough to survive on, the increased covid payments greatly helped the individuals and households that received so, and also greatly helped the economy at large. this proves that simply giving people more money both helps them and the economy at large, proving radical ideas such as a ubi would probably work, with issues im sure....

its also important to realise, most money received by welfare recipients is spent almost immediately back into the economy, benefitting us all....

its also important to realise, the chances of employment post long term unemployment is extremely low, no matter what occurs, i.e. post training and education etc, and if employment is found, the chances of advancement to more comfortable wages is virtually nil, i.e. most would remain in low waged jobs for life, making purchasing of property impossible for most, and of course theres exceptions now and again, but.....

its actually not about seeing the good in others, but to see whats actually deeply at play here, theres plenty of research supporting all of this also, but as said, most has come from my own judgments and experiences....

you also wont change my mind either, so....

And most of them couldnt care less about how unfair the system is once they have their 3 holidays and new set of wheels. Its genuinely better if you dont work and pretend you have long term depression, the state will bend over backwards to give you everything you want.

There's currently one house (at 2400 euro a month) and 3 apartments available for rent in Waterford City on Daft. I know not everyone uses Daft to rent out places but that is insane.

Also and I can’t believe this isn’t brought up enough, is the taxation on landlords, it’s been pretty well established that the vast majority of landlords own one or two properties, however the tax that they have to pay to the government is 52% that’s over half of what they get in rent goes to the government. Of that 2400 a month mentioned 1248 goes to the government leaving the landlord with 1152 a month, let’s say the mortgage is 1050, that’s 100 euro a month or 1200 a year if the property has a management company they have to pay them 2500 a year, so operating at a loss, same goes for the rental at 1700, except worse the government gets 884 of that 1700 leaving 816 for the landlord, let’s say the mortgage is even 900 a month that means theyr3 at a loss of 84 euro a month and they still have to pay management fees, repairs etc.

now before someone comes in with the old ‘the landlord will own an asset at the end of it’ yes that’s true if they stay the course, but the course on most cases is over 30 years, a lot won’t stay that long, house prices have increased but they’re only back to the levels last seen around 2006, coincidentally when most landlords bought their properties. Those guys are voting with their feet and we can see the mass sell off, and let’s be clear there’s no one cashing in, they’re walking away debt free, even if they managed to sell it 10-20k above what they bought it for all those years ago the government steps in again and takes 30% capital gains tax, they’ve essentially been providing a housing service for years without being paid.

There is an obvious solution to all of this and that’s to cut the tax landlords pay to 10% say, if you do that and people actually have around 500 euro a month after all the taxes etc, more may stay in the market, because right now it’s a mugs game, zero profit and doing the governments job for no pay as well as risking the asset with damage etc.

The trouble with this country they’ve used the stick again instead of the carrot, let’s have an eviction ban as soon as it’s up the landlords will run for the hills again and there’ll be amass sell off, whereas if they cut tax you might have people staying and looking to invest.

Thos stuff isn’t rocket science, it was low corporation tax that brought in all the multinationals don’t know why the government can’t see this

This shortage is exactly what so many right leaning economists warned of.