The financialization of rental housing: Evictions and rent regulation

Valesca Lima

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2020.102787

Abstract

Evictions in the private rental sector have acquired primary importance in the public debate. Unaffordable rents and insecurity in the private rented sector have been appointed as one of the primary reasons for homelessness. Due to high rental prices and a chronic housing shortage, families who are not able to find alternative accommodation might fall into homelessness when they are evicted from their homes. This study contributes to the current understanding of the conditions that led to the lack of affordable housing and limited housing options in Ireland. While a range of factors contribute to the housing and homelessness crisis in the country, this paper examines current data and legislation relating to the entry of corporate landlords into the private real estate market. In the face of the unhelpful structural trends of rising poverty and increasing homelessness, this work argues that current levels of homelessness are associated with insecurity in the private rented sector and rising rent unaffordability. This paper finds that the current housing policy framework that focuses on temporary remediation is increasing the commitment to financial actors connected to global corporations and collaborating to the weak regulation of the housing market.

Highlights

In March 2019, United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha, wrote directly to the Irish Government to criticise the country's records on the housing and homeless crisis
This study focuses on the Irish government's policy response to the housing crisis, with particular attention on the recent trends of homelessness, housing unaffordability and evictions, in order to answer the following questions: how do large institutional landlords shape housing policies in Ireland?
As Ireland witnesses the intensification of a housing and homelessness crisis, a growing body of research highlights the impact of the financialization of housing precarity and eviction in Ireland, for low-income households dependent on the private rental market

Summary

Introduction

In March 2019, United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha, wrote directly to the Irish Government to criticise the country's records on the housing and homeless crisis. Despite the rebuttal of UN claims, the housing crisis in Ireland is dominated by evidence of growing housing unaffordability, lack of state investment in social housing, rising property prices and increasing homelessness (Long, Sheridan, Gambi, & Hoey, 2019; Hearne & Murphy, 2019; European Social Policy Network, 2019; Hearne & Murphy, 2017). If compared with other countries that were acutely affected, such as the United States, Spain and Greece, the number of property foreclosures and legal proceedings is low and relatively modest (Kenna, Busch-Geertsema, Benjaminsen, & Nasarre-Aznar, 2016). Since 2014, Ireland has seen a dramatic increase in homelessness numbers, primarily caused by the severe austerity regime during the economic crisis, due to the reduced social housing construction budgets, increased private rental sector evictions, weak tenant protections and rising rents (Hearne & Murphy, 2018, 2019)

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