Shortage of Galway rental properties increasing risk of homelessness

 A SHORTAGE of properties for private rental – especially smaller accommodation units – is continuing to put low income individuals at risk of homelessness, according to a report published over the weekend.

The report by Threshold – the justice in housing group – shows a severe shortage of one bed apartments in the city, a situation that isn’t getting any better over recent years.

“It’s not a crisis, but there is a real problem in terms of the availability of suitable rented accommodation in the city.

“Where it is available, low income tenants are having to back their rent supplements by €200 to €300 a month,” Diarmaid O’Sullivan, Threshold Services Manager, told the Connacht Sentinel.

He said that where such single beds were becoming available, the monthly rent was in the region of €700 to €800, while the maximum rent supplement for such units was €475.

“People are making up the balance from their own resources but very often when that individual’s income is very low, this tends to become untenable over a period of time.

“They just don’t have enough money left every month to meet their most basic living requirements,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

While rented accommodation is far more freely available in provincial towns and villages, the major urban centres like Galway, Dublin, Limerick and Cork have demand well ahead of supply, according to Threshold.

In Galway city, that supply and demand imbalance spreads right across the rental sector from single beds right through to four bedroomed houses, a situation made all the more acute due to the ‘drying up’ of new local authority houses over recent years.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel