Housing Crisis

This conference congratulates the Executive Council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for the initiatives it has taken in relation to the crisis of housing facing our people.

The housing crisis is an all-Ireland one but its worst manifestation is to be found in the Republic of Ireland and in particular in the capital city of Dublin.

The Executive Council is to be applauded for
its role in bringing together a broad alliance
of the trade union movement, political parties and civil society groups, including housing advocates and campaigns, community organisations, tenants’ groups, students’ unions, women’s organisations, Traveller, migrant and LGBT+ campaigners, social justice and faith- based groups.

This has culminated in the creation of a new campaigning body on housing entitled RAISE THE ROOF. It has successfully put together mass demonstrations, policy conferences and other initiatives which have validated the Executive Council’s strategy of building a coalition of all forces which are prepared to support a simple and reasonable policy platform to tackle the housing crisis.

There is little argument that significant change in official policy is urgently required. Within months the RAISE THE ROOF policy platform, including a major local authority led investment in public housing, an end to forced evictions into homelessness, the legal right to housing, security of tenure and rent control, had become the democratically decided housing policy of Dáil Éireann and of most of the main local authorities. But despite this support

from elected representatives, the current Government and local authority managements remain deeply wedded to a failed policy of reliance on the private sector and private profit for housing provision. Policy change will not happen of its own accord and requires a broad and sustained campaign that is politically robust, sufficiently resourced and properly structured.

One of the most important aspects of RAISE THE ROOF is that it works on the principle of treating all the bodies connected with these initiatives on the basis of equality and by

arriving at decisions through consensus while simultaneously accepting the autonomy of all the groups involved.

Conference urges the Executive Council to deepen, to widen and to build a massive campaign of all these forces and of all those who are prepared to work for the housing programme of the RAISE THE ROOF campaign.