Public Housing Now, Demands Youth Socialist Republican Group

Student activists have renewed calls for sweeping housing reforms as hundreds of third-level students continue to face homelessness and unaffordable rents across Ireland.

The Workers' Party Society at Trinity College Dublin argued this week that recent rent freezes, while welcome, fail to address the root causes of the crisis. The group accused the government of prioritising the interests of landlords and property speculators over the needs of students and working people.

With rents at record highs and many workers struggling to afford basic accommodation, campaigners are demanding large-scale state-owned housing and stronger rent controls. They contend that housing should be treated as a fundamental human right rather than a source of private profit.

The society called for an end to housing privatisation and for guaranteed public housing to ensure that all residents, including students, have access to secure and affordable homes.

"The Workers’ Party Society TCD shares in the outrage over hundreds of students at Irish third-level institutions being subjected to homelessness. While the society welcomes the rent freeze won by TCDSU/AMLCT, it must be said in no uncertain terms that a rent freeze is completely insufficient for tackling the true issue of many students being unable to obtain or afford accommodation. While many will be relieved that their rent will not be increasing for the next academic year, many students are still faced with the brutal reality that renting in Dublin is simply not possible as a direct result of the government’s intertwining with the price-gouging landlord class. The same actions depriving students of their fundamental needs are degrading the conditions for the people of Ireland in general. The exploiters and their class allies in government are intensifying the already dire situation in which many live. Hundreds of students are homeless while tens of thousands more are increasingly squeezed towards that condition.

Rents in residential areas of Dublin have risen to extortionate levels, the likes of which have never been seen on Irish soil. Today, a person working full-time at minimum wage will often struggle to even cover rent, let alone all of the other basic necessities that a person requires to survive. One in five TDs are themselves landlords. Another 15% are sitting on land that could certainly be used to benefit the Irish people, rather than for speculation by profit-seekers. This government shapes policy for financial gain, rather than for public good.

The society is calling for state-owned housing to be guaranteed to all residents of Ireland, students included, in order for them to have their fundamental human right to adequate housing met. The privatisation of state-owned housing must be stemmed and the rents of privately-owned housing must be controlled. Proper rent control and public"