CO M M E N T REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ
BACK TO THE FUTURE
A HOME, A SECURE JOB AND A HAPPY FAMILY ARE THE THREE THINGS THAT MOST YOUNG PEOPLE STARTING OUT IN LIFE WOULD HOPE TO ACHIEVE, BUT HOW REALISTIC ARE THEIR HOPES IN CONTEMPORARY IRELAND?
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Most people want three things more than anything else: a home of their own, a secure job and a happy family. Parents, above all, want these for their children. Parents value education and often make sacrifices to ensure that their children do well in school, knowing that education is the door to a good job. With a good job, their children can save to obtain a mortgage to buy their own home, and with a good job and a nice home, they hope to have a happy family life. However, as our country becomes wealthier, many young people today face increasingly insecure housing, insecure employment and disruption to family life. What their parents took for granted in poorer times, is now beyond the dreams of many of their children in our 'developed' world. A SECURE HOME? Fifty years ago, almost everyone in Ireland could aspire to owning their own home. Anyone on the average industrial wage, a nurse, a teacher, a garda, could obtain a mortgage and purchase their own modest home. If a person’s income was too low to obtain a mortgage, they went onto a social housing waiting list, and within a few years, were given a council house which, if they wished, they could purchase from the local authority. Today, the average cost of a house in Ireland is €269,000 and predicted to continue rising by 8 per cent per annum. To qualify for a mortgage, a first-time buyer would require a deposit of €27,000 and an income of €70,000 per year. Only one in three households in Ireland today has an income of €70,000 per year. REALITY MARCH 2018
cent saying that they would like, but are unable to find, permanent employment. There are approximately 109,000 fewer workers in full-time permanent jobs today than there were in 2008, even though we are now approaching full employment. About 8 per cent of workers are on zero-hours, or 'if and when' contracts, meaning that they never know from week to week how many hours they would work and therefore what their income would be. Others are on short-term contract work, or required to work as bogus 'self-employed', thus cutting costs for their employers and leaving them without the benefit of standard legal regulatory protections. Many others work for the minimum wage which does not allow a person to live at a sociably acceptable standard of living.
In Dublin, where most people work, the problem is much worse. With average house prices at €415,000, a first-time buyer would require a deposit of €41,500 and to qualify for a mortgage would require a household income of at least €100,000. So, going forward, purchasing their own home will only be an option for the wealthiest one-third of young people. The majority will be forced to rent, living their whole life in insecure housing. Should they lose their job, or have a prolonged spell of illness, they may be unable to pay the rent and may face homelessness. Should the landlord decide to sell the house, they face involuntary relocation. When they retire, their income will fall, but
their rent will remain the same or increase. If they suffer a disability, they may be obliged to move out in order to find specially adapted accommodation which may not be available. A SECURE JOB? Fifty ago, a young person could look forward to getting a job which was reasonably secure, even if, at the beginning of their career, they were not very well paid. However, today, secure, regular employment is being replaced by employment that is insecure and unpredictable. Since 2008, there has been a significant increase in temporary employment, with over 50 per
A HAPPY FAMILY LIFE? Two of the greatest pressures on family life today are financial insecurity and lack of a suitable home. Young people today, wishing to start a family life, may be forced to continue living separately, with their respective parents, or to live in poor quality private rented accommodation for which many are paying in excess of 50 per cent of their income just on rent. Over time, relationships become strained and may break up, putting further pressure on a dysfunctional housing system. While disposable incomes for young people today are certainly much higher than they were for their parents at their age, they may live more stressful and less secure lives today and their quality of life may be much lower.