THE HOUSING CRISIS is a social catastrophe. We need a circuit breaker, a game changer, something that can reset this downward spiral of policy failure of successive governments.

I have long argued that making housing a human right in Ireland would provide that fundamental reset, a new approach that would guide all policy and action with one singular goal – to ensure everyone has a home. Over two years ago, the Housing Commission, an official body set up by the Government, recommended that a right to housing should be inserted into the Constitution. Since then, the Coalition has let that recommendation gather dust on the shelf, all the while ramming through rental reforms to the benefit of large investor landlords.

Scale of misery

Tomorrow, I will bring forward a Bill to the Dáil containing the Housing Commission’s wording for a referendum on a right to housing. It has never been more clear that we need a right to housing in our Constitution and laws – just look at the scale of misery being caused in its absence.

An entire generation is stuck in their childhood bedrooms or being forced to emigrate; the most recent National Youth Council survey showed seven out of 10 young people are considering leaving the country. The Irish State and its successive governments have failed them, failed to build sufficient social and affordable housing, instead prioritising investor funds and developers. As a result, rents and house prices are now completely out of reach.

We have the highest levels of evictions since the Great Famine. In 2024, there were 16,546 households issued with eviction notices in the private rental sector. In 2025, there were 20,033 households evicted. In the first six months of this year, 11,093 households were issued notices to quit, a 25% increase on the first six months of 2024.

A tsunami of evictions

The scale of this tsunami of evictions is overwhelming when we consider that 47,672 households have been evicted in just two and a half years. That amounts to over 130,000 people, including tens of thousands of children, going through the trauma of losing their home, uprooting their life, and all of the stresses that come with that.

This is a significant reason behind the ongoing shameful rise in people in homelessness.

Last month saw a record-high 5,830 children and their families in emergency accommodation, with a total 17,885 people homeless. That is over double what it was in 2020, when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael formed this Government. These figures do not include the thousands of people in hidden homelessness who are couch surfing, in domestic violence refuges, or sleeping rough in cars and tents.

The Irish State has forgotten the lessons of the past, when it used to build council housing on a massive scale; this is the fundamental problem.

Nowadays, its policies have outsourced housing to the market to meet the profit needs of investor funds, developers and banks. Housing is treated as a commodity and investment asset, not as homes to be lived in.

The overriding driver in housing policy is viability for the market. The Government’s disastrous rental law changes of 1 March this year provided a financial incentive for landlords to kick out their tenants and reset the rent to market rate. This has been deemed permissible by a Government that puts the interests of these landlords, vulture funds and corporate investors before the health, and in many cases, the very survival of those in housing need.

There is not one mention of a right to housing in any housing policy in Ireland.

No wonder we are going around in circles, repeating the same failed policies and expecting a different outcome.

The housing catastrophe has been deepening now for well over a decade. One could argue in some respects that we have been in a housing crisis since the 1990s. There is something fundamentally wrong with our housing system, our housing market, the way we treat housing and the way we understand housing.

The starting point of policy

Other countries, such as Spain and Finland, have a right to housing in their constitutions. Their starting point in the creation of housing policy and their treatment of housing is that it is a human right. Without this, as in Ireland, there is confusion: is housing an investment commodity, is it something about the public good, or is it a social need?

The Housing Commission was very clear that there should be a referendum to insert the right to housing into the Constitution, which would then guide all Government policy decisions going forward with regards to housing.

The Housing Commission made it clear a right to housing in our Constitution would make a real difference.

It would place a clear legal responsibility on the entire Irish State from local authorities all the way to the Minister for Housing to ensure every citizen in this country has access to adequate housing. I do not believe the scale of evictions and homelessness would be tolerated if a right to housing was enshrined in our Constitution – there would be a legal obligation to put in place a ban on evictions and prevent homelessness.

The right to housing is only the starting point for fixing housing in Ireland. The Social Democrats have fully costed plans for huge reform in the provision of housing. We would create a state construction company; acquire four modular homes factories to turbo charge the delivery of social and affordable homes; and roll out a new State savings scheme, modelled on a similar scheme that has operated successfully in France for decades, which would be used to boost and diversify sustainable investment in affordable homes while providing an enhanced interest rate to savers.

Safe, decent and affordable housing is central to our very existence, from our physical health to our psychological wellbeing. It is essential to a child’s development and the ability of everyone to participate in our society and economy. Homelessness is the most egregious violation of the right to housing, and yet homelessness in Ireland has become entrenched, normalised by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Our Constitution is the ultimate repository of our national values. A right to housing should be included, not just as a statement of intent but to give further legal weight to a hugely important human right. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael should show courage and vision this week and support the Bill to hold a referendum to insert a right to housing in the Constitution.

Rory Hearne is the Social Democrats housing spokesperson and TD for Dublin North-West.