According to the Housing Executive, there are over 36,000 households in the Six Counties defined as ‘living in stress’ – a figure which has remained largely unchanged in over a decade. Within that number, there are over 18,000 households waiting on a home

Speaking on the issue, Lasair Dhearg spokesperson Pól Torbóid said that the housing system in the Six Counties is “clearly not fit for purpose” and that what is needed is “not reform or meaningless support mechanisms, but root and branch change of the housing market”.

Torbóid said that “At present, there are over 129,000 households across this island waiting on a home, and over 200,000 empty houses. Ireland’s housing woes could literally be solved at the stroke of a pen but vested interests in Leinster House and Stormont prevent this from happening.

“In Stormont alone, at least 1 in 5 MLA’s are landlords, and we know that many more fail to, or deliberately do not register or declare their business interests, with many preferring to have family members register on their behalf, as proxy agents. This shows the willingness of those that must be held to supposed ‘higher standards of account’ to circumvent their own ‘laws’ in the pursuit of profit.

“The housing ‘crisis’ isn’t actually a crisis, it was designed this way in order to artificially inflate the incomes of Stormont MLA landlords like Sinn Féin’s Pat Sheehan or Jim Wells of the DUP. There is a deliberate scarcity of housing, pushing up need, and consequently pushing up rents. The only solution is to remove the profit motive from the housing economy, and to build a new system based on actual need with a focus on service and support – a public housing system.

“On that basis, we support the immediate acquisition of all empty housing, particularly that which is used to churn out profit, to be placed into the hands of those who need it most – Stormont and other capitalist institutions in Ireland are clearly unwilling or unable to do this.

“What is clear, is that when it comes to solving the chronic housing issue here – Stormont Can’t Deliver!”