A home or a wealth generator? Inequality, financialisation and the Irish housing crisis

Housing is the basis of stability and security for an individual or family. The centre of our social, emotional and sometimes economic lives, a home should be a sanctuary; a place to live in peace, security and dignity… Housing has been financialised: valued as a commodity rather than a human dwelling, it has become, for investors, a means to secure and accumulate wealth rather than a place to live in dignity, to raise a family and thrive within a community… Deprivations of the right to adequate housing are not just programme failures or policy challenges but human rights violations of the highest order, depriving those affected of the most basic human right to dignity, security and life itself

Achieving a right to the city in practice: community development and human rights approaches in Dublin’s inner city communities

The concept of the right to the city is increasingly being drawn upon by international human rights organisations, urban governments, NGOs, and marginalised and excluded communities, amongst others, to promote the right of urban inhabitants to an acceptable standard of living in a sustainable city in which they decide governance and development processes. However, it is increasingly becoming a contested concept between elite international, regional and city governments and NGO institutions defining it in terms of human rights covenants and liberal democracy, and radical theorists and grassroots activists of urban justice drawing on it to critique and challenge neoliberal capitalist urbanism. There is also a growing discussion on the practical political question of how the right to the city is to be achieved in practice. Is it through global movements and charters, government policy or community movements? There is also a necessary (but surprisingly not often asked) question to be investigated which is, where is the evidence of right to the city processes, in practice, altering neoliberal processes of urban development, austerity and exclusion? This working paper provides an overview and analysis of the struggles of case study disadvantaged communities in the Irish cities of Dublin and Limerick against neoliberal regeneration plans and a harsh neoliberal austerity regime implemented in Ireland from 2008 to 2013 which has had devastating effects on their community and neighbourhood projects. The paper outlines the various processes, actions, approaches, strategies, ideas, and polices developed by these communities within their social movement struggles at an individual estate level and at the city-wide scale. In recent years the communities have turned to a rights framework to try and articulate their demands for community oriented regeneration that would provide a decent standard of housing and neighbourhood, with an empowered community engaged in decision making processes, to enable these social housing tenants to remain living with dignity and equality in their local place that was their homes. These struggles are presented as a contribution to the debate in critical urban theory and urban social movement studies on how the right to the city can be achieved in practice. It reveals that the real world practice of community resistance is complicated and sometimes does not fit neatly with radical academics’ and activists’ desires for what movements should be and do. These communities successfully rolled back some neoliberal measures and achieved aspects of the right to the city through the adoption of a multiplicity of political strategies including publicly critical campaigns that involved community development, a human rights framework, collective action, empowerment, media work, political lobbying, and public protest. Interestingly the communities also prioritised on-going engagement with the state to develop practical solutions to their issues. The connection between these communities and their local area reasserted such marginalised, working class, neighbourhoods as a central territory for an alternative urban politics that can achieve social justice. The experience has implications for strategies of achieving the right to the city. For example it highlights the significant challenges faced by communities in engaging in scales beyond their community, in this case in a cross city network to influence national policy. The experience of the campaigns and policies developed by these communities in Dublin’s inner city, therefore, provide important reflections for academic, policy and activist debate on strategies to achieve a right to the city for its most marginalised populations

Housing in Ireland: From Crisis to Crisis

In this paper we provide an overarching analysis of housing in Ireland from 1993-2014, examining trends in housing and land prices, supply and vacancy, social housing, private renting, mortgage debt and arrears, negative equity, and homelessness. The central thesis we advance is that housing in Ireland has been perpetually in crisis over the past twenty years, evolving through three distinct phases: 1993-2006 (the Celtic Tiger years); 2007-2012 (the crash); 2013- (unstable, uneven and partial rebalancing). The paper sets out the trends, policy and the multiple crises operating within each of these periods, illustrated through an extensive use of relevant data. The conclusion sets out why housing in Ireland evolved through these crises and examines what might be done to solve present issues and provide more robust housing policies that will be sustainable, equitable and ameliorate against future boom and bust cycles

Spatial justice and housing in Ireland

In this chapter, we examine social and spatial injustices with respect to housing in Ireland, focusing on three concerns. The first is social housing, examining access to such housing in general and the provision of habitable and safe units given the collapse in regeneration initiatives. The second is the phenomena of unfinished estates and substandard private housing stock. The third is the issue of mortgage arrears and negative equity in the aftermath of the collapse of the Irish economy and property market. In the final section we examine why these social and spatial injustices are likely to persist given the structural forces of austerity at work in Ireland that reproduce and deepen social and spatial inequalities

Spatial justice and housing in Ireland

In this chapter, we examine social and spatial injustices with respect to housing in Ireland, focusing on three concerns. The first is social housing, examining access to such housing in general and the provision of habitable and safe units given the collapse in regeneration initiatives. The second is the phenomena of unfinished estates and substandard private housing stock. The third is the issue of mortgage arrears and negative equity in the aftermath of the collapse of the Irish economy and property market. In the final section we examine why these social and spatial injustices are likely to persist given the structural forces of austerity at work in Ireland that reproduce and deepen social and spatial inequalities

Participatory Action Research: a Human Rights and Capability Approach: A PAHRCA HANDBOOK for NGOs and Vulnerable Groups. Part 2: The Practice

This handbook explains the Participatory Action Human Rights and Capability App - roach, PAHRCA, developed by the RE-InVEST project. It is written for co-researchers; NGOs, trade unions, and community groups under - taking research with vulnerable people and the vulnerable as co-researchers themselves. The handbook is developed in a way that is ‘user friendly’. It provides a brief overview of the theory behind the methodological app - roach and then includes concrete detail ex - plain ing the methodology, case studies of how it was implemented in practice, sample participatory methods that can be used and useful advice for researchers, and reflections on the role of the different participants involved

Privatising Public Housing Redevelopment: grassroots resistance, co-operation and devastation in three Dublin neighbourhoods

This paper examines variations in residents' responses to proposals to redevelop three public housing neighbourhoods in Dublin using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and the outcomes their resistance achieved. In two of these neighbourhoods community representative structures were strong and although one community co-operated with the PPP plans and the other opposed them, both were broadly successful in achieving their campaign objectives. Community structures in the third case-study area were weak however and the imposition of PPP redevelopment devastated this neighbourhood which is now almost entirely vacant. This case study is employed to critique the literature on grassroots resistance to urban redevelopment and welfare state restructuring and social housing development policy in Ireland. The paper concludes that, contrary to many researchers’ assumptions, residents' political action and resistance can significantly influence on public housing redevelopment strategies despite the dominance of neoliberal and entrepreneurial governance regimes. However, for vulnerable communities were representative structures are weak, the over-emphasis on gentrification/ social mixing and refurbishing the built environment in Irish public housing development policy can have devastating consequences. Indeed, demolition and rebuilding programmes in particular can destabilise target neighbourhoods to the extent that the residents who ultimately enjoy the benefits of public housing redevelopment are largely or entirely different from those who campaigned for its instigation

USING THE “HUMAN RIGHTS BASED APPROACH” TO TACKLE HOUSING DEPRIVATION IN NA IRISH URBAN ESTATE

Housing rights are becoming significant as a tool for highlighting needs and raising housing standards across the world. These rights are now an integral part of economic, social, and cultural rights within international human rights instruments, while the right to adequate housing is recognised legally at national and international levels. Among the methods of implementing these rights the “Human Rights Based Approach” (HRBA) is used by NGOs, community organisations and rights advocates. Many housing rights issues arise in relation to standards in social housing, urban regeneration and social housing policy development. This article examines a case study where the HRBA has been applied by local authority tenants in partnership with community development organisations and supported by human rights expertise to campaign for improvements to substandard housing conditions and deprivation within a Dublin inner city social housing estate. It appraises the adoption of the HRBA as a response to inadequate housing conditions and delayed regeneration programmes. The impact of poor housing on the health of tenants was an integral element of the arguments used. The outcomes of using the HRBA for the rights holders (the tenants) are assessed. Overall, this campaign led to significant improvements in conditions. The factors underlying the success centred on the way in which the HRBA framework, with its focus on measurable indicators of human rights violations, enabled community development organisations to create a human rights based public campaign that exerted considerable political pressure through the empowerment of tenants, leveraging of human rights experts, and considerable media publicity. The development of solutions in parallel with the local authority was also important. This approach transcended many established NGO and State approaches to addressing poverty

Participatory Action Research: a Human Rights and Capability Approach: A PAHRCA HANDBOOK for NGOs and Vulnerable Groups. Part 2: The Practice

This handbook explains the Participatory Action Human Rights and Capability App - roach, PAHRCA, developed by the RE-InVEST project. It is written for co-researchers; NGOs, trade unions, and community groups under - taking research with vulnerable people and the vulnerable as co-researchers themselves. The handbook is developed in a way that is ‘user friendly’. It provides a brief overview of the theory behind the methodological app - roach and then includes concrete detail ex - plain ing the methodology, case studies of how it was implemented in practice, sample participatory methods that can be used and useful advice for researchers, and reflections on the role of the different participants involved

Housing financialisation and the creation of homelessness in Ireland

There is growing interest in the impacts of financialisation on housing affordability and insecurity in the private rental sector, particularly financialisation 2.0 and the increased role of global real estate funds. This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of these impacts on housing systems and housing marginalisation by conceptually and empirically exploring the relationship between the financialisation of rental housing and homelessness in the post-crash era. We identify the processes and pathways by which this has unfolded in Ireland. Our findings point to the financialisation of the Private Rental Sector (PRS) in Ireland, and particularly the emergence of institutional landlords, playing an important direct and indirect contributory role in the structural housing factors that create homelessness, including reduced affordability, rising housing insecurity, displacement and evictions. We argue there is a need for greater attention to be paid to the evolving real estate-state-finance relationship, particularly the central role of the state, conceptualised here through pathways and processes of action and inaction, in developing and facilitating financialisation