RENTERS will be forced to pay €3,000 a month for “dark shoeboxes” following a rule change to shrink the minimum size of apartments, it has been claimed.
The Government has been accused of bending over backwards to entice developers to get back to building apartment blocks as the Housing Minister today dropped rules around the standards of homes that can be built in Ireland.
Minister James Browne said he’s treating the housing situation as an emergency[/caption]
The new rules would see apartments built smaller with less communal space and more studio apartments[/caption]
Minister James Browne issued new guidelines which reduced the minimum size for a studio apartment from 37 square metres down to 32 square metres.
He also scrapped a rule where only 50 per cent of a development could be one bed or studio apartments.
The new rules also allow for apartment blocks to have fewer windows and elevators and end the need for community or communal spaces in developments.
Minister Browne said he was dropping the standards “to ensure apartments are viable to build” as international investment in Ireland’s housing market has dried up in recent years.
The move came under fire from across the Dail today as TDs accused the Minister of enabling developers to build shoebox apartments to boost their profits.
Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne said the measures will only serve to increase the profits for developers and won’t do anything to reduce the price of rents or buying a home.
He said: “There are a number of extremely concerning aspects to this in particular the reduction in size of studios that were already really, really small.
“We’re going to see young people in this country facing the option of moving out of their childhood box rooms into dark shoeboxes for €3,000 a month.
“This isn’t a future for our young people. This isn’t housing that will provide homes and futures for families or individuals.
“It is simply about increasing the profits of investors.”
EMERGENCY MOTION
Dublin City Councillors this week passed an emergency motion accusing the Government of “gutting” the provision of community and cultural spaces in apartment complexes.
Opposition parties also questioned the motivation behind the changes as they asked to see what evidence was available to prove that reducing the size of apartments would mean that more homes would be built or prices would fall.
Labour’s housing spokesman Conor Sheehan said: “This is another set of changes that have not been modelled by the Minister.
‘NO EVIDENCE’
“He has no evidence other than what developers have told him.”
Minister Browne claimed that the ability to squeeze more apartments into complexes will cut building costs by between €50,000 and €100,000 per apartment.
He said: “If you effect the viability you don’t get the apartments built at all and that’s simply not the way to address this.
“We’re in an housing crisis. I’m treating it as a housing emergency.”
