The housing crisis in Ireland is a major issue which we have a duty to respond to.

The building of a sufficient volume of new apartments and homes to cater for our growing population is at least 5 years away.

Ireland has over 1 million empty bedrooms every night. This petition calls for an increase from €14,000 to €25,000 the tax-free threshold for hosts to earn by renting out empty bedrooms.

Why might this be a solution? 

1. It MAY encourage new hosts into the market
2. It MAY encourage individuals who host already to take in one extra renter
3. It IS a reversible decision. We could try it for 18 months and see if it makes an impact on the housing crisis.
4. It IS easy. 
5. It IS a fast solution.
6. It's a win-win from an environmental perspective.

Our problems

• Dereliction
• Homelessness
• Young children growing up in hotels
• More pressure on our housing system than ever before

Every 1% of the overall unused bedrooms in Ireland that can be unlocked with home hosting is an equivalent to SIX MONTHS OF HOUSE BUILDING. We have, therefore, 25 years of PRE-BUILT AND UNUSED housing stock available in our country.

Unfortunately, we (and the Government) must recognise that the only solution to our housing crisis / accommodation crisis is to ask the middle-class citizens in their 60s and 70s to open up their homes that they worked so hard to buy and pay off. 

In Ireland 53% of people over the age of 25 have a third level education. This has been a 17.5% increase over the past six years according to the HEA (Higher Education Authority). If this number continues to increase the demand for rooms to rent for students in Ireland alone will put an even larger strain on the current housing crisis.

The only solution is to encourage more homeowners to become hosts and help deal with the demand for rooms to rent.

• In early January 2022, 967 people responded to an online advertisement for ONE room which was available for rent in a home in Ashbrook. This demand for a single room sparked a research project which showed 60,000 unused bedrooms in Limerick City alone.
• There is not enough new housing being built to meet the needs of new people moving to Limerick for work, education or natural population growth. 
• The homeowners with empty bedrooms are the only people who have the ability to solve the housing/accommodation crisis in the short term.

We believe the only short-term solution is to use the current houses and some of the 60,000 empty bedrooms.