Mark O'Halloran Writer and actor As part of The Good Information Project we are posing the question this month ‘How can Ireland’s housing crisis be fixed?’. Writer and actor Mark O’Halloran asks what will happen to people who are long-term renters once they retire - and why successive governments have done so little to help. I CAN’T GET a mortgage and if I keep renting my future looks rather bleak.
It can be a tough slog getting by in the TV and film world. Being a freelance writer you have to constantly produce to a high standard or you’re dropped. You move from contract to contract with no guarantees. And it can be quite savage. But I have survived and done well in this world and this makes me happy.
I say all this, not to blow my own trumpet, but simply to lay out the facts. I have no regrets. I’ve worked hard and I’ve created films and plays and roles that I’m very proud of. In some quarters my career might be judged a success. The community I am part of is amazing. I have great neighbours and I appreciate them hugely. It does seem odd though that the rent I pay would easily pay for a mortgage on a place like this. But as I’ve said, I don’t qualify. And so instead, I piss a huge proportion of my income away on rent each month and each year another 4% is added.
So, when I’m old, after having spent more money on rent in my lifetime than most people will have on their entire mortgage, where will I find myself? Who the fuck knows? They tinker around at the edges and look surprised when their meagre efforts fail. In fact, under both these men, the problems in the housing sector have gotten demonstrably worse.
markohalloran I think investors are buying up a lot of the houses that are for sale, I have noticed a lot of houses around the 400,00 mark selling like hot cakes, yet I know professional couples who can’t get a mortgage on properties 100,000 cheaper
Writer and actor Mark O’Halloran asks what will happen to people who are long-term renters once they retire.