Richard Boyd Barrett introduces Right to Housing Amendment
Richard Boyd Barrett introduced the 39th Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing Bill, 2020), arguing the Constitution should guarantee a right to secure, affordable, dignified housing and allow the State to delimit private property to vindicate that right. He urged a referendum and criticised the government's move to remove COVID-era tenant protections, citing so-called Attorney General advice used to justify lifting bans on evictions and rent increases.
Bill and proposal
The deputy introduced the 39th Amendment of the Constitution Right to Housing Bill, 2020, noting it is the same bill he brought to the Dáil in 2017 and was narrowly defeated then. He called on colleagues to support the bill so a referendum can be held.
Constitutional change proposed
The bill would insert after Section 2 of Article 43 a recognition that the common good includes the right to secure, affordable, dignified housing appropriate to the needs of all residents and require the State to guarantee that right through laws, policies and prioritisation of resources. It would also allow the State to delimit the right to private property where necessary to ensure the common good and vindicate the right to housing.
COVID-era actions and constitutional arguments
He argued that measures once said to be unconstitutional during previous years were enacted during the COVID pandemic, including eviction bans and limited rent controls, showing some past legal objections were spurious. He criticised current efforts by the government to dismantle emergency tenant protections and said those moves are being justified by so-called advice from the Attorney General about constitutional protections of private property.
Political response and referendum call
He recalled that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael voted against the bill in 2017 while the Greens supported it, and said housing charities and NGOs consider the constitutional change necessary to end homelessness and prioritise the right to housing over private profit. He urged the government to assist in progressing the legislation quickly so the people can decide in a referendum whether the right to housing should be enshrined in the Constitution.
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Thank you very much, Cian Corle. Yeah, I'm looking for leave to introduce the 39th Amendment of the Constitution Right to Housing Bill, 2020. This is the same bill as I introduced to the Dáil in 2017, which at that time was narrowly defeated in the Dáil. Although it is worth saying that although Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael voted against this bill at that time, the Greens supported it. And also now in the new programme for government, the new government have, I think, committed to, the Housing Minister can nod if I'm correct, I think committed to introducing a Right to Housing Bill. So here's the bill, you just have to support it. And I think it's very important that we do bring in this bill, amend the Constitution to include the Right to Housing. Because time and time again, when we have sought measures to protect the rights of tenants, to do things like prevent unjust economic evictions, to take over property that could be used for housing, people desperately in need, we're told on this and many other housing related issues that we can't do it because of the protections of private property in the Constitution. Now, frankly, I've never accepted that, and we discovered, of course, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, that things that we were told for previous years by the Fine Gael government, you couldn't do, because they were unconstitutional, like ban evictions, like control rents, to some extent, not enough, but to some extent, things that we were told we couldn't do in the past, then we discovered actually we could do them. Which, you know, suggest that some of the legal justifications for not introducing a right to housing or taking measures to ensure housing provision for people in this country, to protect tenants and so on, some of those legal justifications were spurious in the first place. Nonetheless, I think it's important we bring this in, because if you think about the current efforts by the government to dismantle the emergency protections for tenants introduced during COVID-19 today, some of that disgraceful move, in my opinion, by the new government to actually remove those protections on tenants and open the door for evictions are being justified by so-called advice from the Attorney General about the ban on evictions and rent increases being unconstitutional because of the constitutional protection of private property. I reject that, but just to be sure, let's actually have the referendum. Let's get it clear in the Constitution that people do have the right to housing, that the right to housing is the definition of the common good, and that that common good and that right to housing should override protections on private property, particularly when we're talking about the private property of landlords, vulture funds, vulture funds, and others who seem to think that their wealth is more important than the right to secure and dignified housing for ordinary people. So, this bill seeks to insert, after Section 2 of Article 43 of the Constitution, which is the section that deals with the common good and private property, and it inserts the following sections, that the State in particular recognises the common good as including the right to secure, affordable, dignified housing, appropriate to housing, appropriate to the needs for all residents of Ireland, and shall guarantee this right through its laws, policies, and the prioritisation of resources, and, two, that the State accordingly shall delimit the right to private property where it is necessary to ensure the common good, and to vindicate the said right to housing for all residents of Ireland. So, this is what all of the housing charities, NGOs, anybody concerned with housing, have said is necessary to have the right to housing, to end the scandal of homelessness, to end the scandal of private property being put before the basic human right to a secure, affordable roof over your head. It seems to me there should be no reason why the government wouldn't support and assist getting this legislation as quickly as possible, through the Dáil, that we can have the referendum and let the people decide if they think the right to housing should be a basic human right in this country.
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