Richard O'Donoghue: Blaming taxes and inflation for the housing crisis
Richard O'Donoghue criticises the government over rising rents, stalled modular housing rules and taxation that he says is blocking young people from building homes. In a parliamentary address he argues inflation is eroding savings, forcing families to double up and pushing landlords from the rental market.
Richard O'Donoghue outlines how inflation is wiping out savings for people who want to build their own houses and points to delays on modular housing legislation that would allow families to add units at the back of their homes. He raises the issue of parents and children living together and the strain on local authority homes when rents are assessed on total household income.
O'Donoghue suggests intervening in the private rental market-similar to measures taken for Ukrainians-by reducing rents and tax burdens to encourage landlords to remain in the market and to make housing affordable. He criticises the government's reliance on taxation as a default solution and calls for practical measures to increase supply and relieve overcrowding.
The speaker accuses the government of squandering taxpayer money, lacking business-minded solutions, and rewarding departmental overspend without accountability. He warns that these failures hurt working families and block the next generation from independent housing.
O'Donoghue frames the debate as one of immediate impact: stalled legislation, rising costs and tax policy combine to create a shortage of viable housing options. He urges ministers to listen to people with practical experience in construction and home-building to fix the crisis quickly.
Main points
Richard O'Donoghue outlines how inflation is wiping out savings for people who want to build their own houses and points to delays on modular housing legislation that would allow families to add units at the back of their homes. He raises the issue of parents and children living together and the strain on local authority homes when rents are assessed on total household income.
Policy proposals and criticism
O'Donoghue suggests intervening in the private rental market-similar to measures taken for Ukrainians-by reducing rents and tax burdens to encourage landlords to remain in the market and to make housing affordable. He criticises the government's reliance on taxation as a default solution and calls for practical measures to increase supply and relieve overcrowding.
Accountability and consequences
The speaker accuses the government of squandering taxpayer money, lacking business-minded solutions, and rewarding departmental overspend without accountability. He warns that these failures hurt working families and block the next generation from independent housing.
Implications for renters and homeowners
O'Donoghue frames the debate as one of immediate impact: stalled legislation, rising costs and tax policy combine to create a shortage of viable housing options. He urges ministers to listen to people with practical experience in construction and home-building to fix the crisis quickly.
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Transcript
Thank you. Minister, how many people are living at home with their parents? That gives you the answer, doesn't it? How many people today and their families are living at home with their parents? I know my children are, and their parents are living with me. I'm a building contractor at the Fort Bell to build their own house. It's not viable. Why? Inflation. Saving hard. As hard as they can save, inflation is passing out what they can save. And that's the people that want to build their own house. We came on to the modular houses and we said to allow them to put in a modular unit at the back of their own house. So it would allow even for the parents, if they wanted to downsize, or couples to come in behind their own house. You're still having that legislation finished. You're now waiting for the environment to fix it. You're still having it done. We were talking about it last year, you're still having it started this year. For people that are trying to help their own children. How many people are in the local authority houses, have their children and their partners staying with them? But what happens when you move into a local authority house and you're paying rent? It's based on the income coming into the house. So those people, you can't provide a house for them, but you'll charge them rent in an overcrowded situation. That's what you've done. So, what could you do to relieve the situation? Why is there so many people, landlords, leaving the market? And how can we stop this in the interim, to help the next generation? Well, what you could do, you could do the same thing as what you've done for the Ukrainians. By dropping the rents down to a certain price, that there would be tax, no tax. And halve the rent. That's what you could do. And let people provide houses. Because anyone that's charging rent in a household, a landlord, or whatever they're doing, they're raising their prices, it's 40-50% tax. Why are we giving the tax when you can't provide a home? Why? You've no solutions, all your solution is tax. And that tax is added onto every renter in this country. That is your fault and your government's fault. That is why we have the situation we have today. Because you've no business mind of how to tackle situations, but all you know is about inflation. Because when something goes up, you get extra tax. What do you do with it? You squander it. And there's no accountability on the taxpayer's money in this country, because you don't know what to do with it. So if you make bags of it in the department and you spend millions overspend, what do they do? They reward you. Who suffers? Every person in this country that works. That's who suffers. So you want to learn, listen to people that know. Because your advisors don't know. And that's what's putting this country in the situation it's in today.