The news that Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Council and the Department Of Housing have agreed to lease an entire apartment block from a vulture fund for the first time represents a dramatic and worrying escalation in the privatisation of social housing.
The agreement will see the state pay a minimum of €52,500,000 (€52.5m) to the vulture fund over the next 25 years for 87 apartments in Hebert Hill in Dundrum. The final bill may be far higher due to regular inflation-linked rent reviews. The state is also going to be on the hook for all repairs, maintenance and management costs for the next quarter of a century.
Éirígí For A New Republic is organising a protest outside Herbert Hill at midday on Saturday (December 7th) to give people an opportunity to register their opposition to the state encouraging the vulture takeover of housing. Speaking from Dundrum, Éirígí local area representative Brian Leeson said,
Brian Leeson at Herbert Hill. The only solution to the chaos of the current housing chaos is the creation of a new system of UP Housing - state-supplied universal public housing that would be open to everyone who is need of a home, regardless of their income.
“Over the course of the last five years we have seen the vultures amassing huge numbers of homes across the Rathdown constituency. The vultures will soon own about 4,000 homes across Ballinteer, Sandyford, Leopardstown, Stillorgan, Dundrum, Windy Arbour, Churchtown and Nutgrove.
This is staggering number of homes to fall under the control of a class of landlord that did not even exist just five years ago. Through their extremely aggressive pricing strategies these companies have been to the fore of driving rents to their current extortionate levels.
The time is long since past for people to get on the streets to demand their human right to housing. Our protest on Saturday will be family friendly and open to all, so I’d strongly encourage people to take an hour out of their day to send a message to the vultures, DLR and the government.”
The ‘Vultures Out!’ protest will take place between 12pm to 1pm on Saturday, December 7th outside Herbert Hill in Dundrum. Bígí linn,