Rising immigration levels not linked to homelessness crisis, says President Higgins

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/09/22/rising-immigration-levels-not-linked-to-homelessness-crisis-says-president-higgins/

Posted by That_Technician_439

33 Comments

  1. boardsmember2017 on

    Finally some sensible comments in the adult conversation. The two are in no way linked, and anyone who says they are is untrustworthy and behaving disingenuously

  2. Moronic contribution, and not for the first time. And I say that as someone who generally likes him.

  3. We’re very lucky to have a President such as Michael D. who is not afraid to call it as it is.

    The political class want you to believe the housing crisis was caused by the war in Ukraine. It existed long, long before then.

    The housing market is working exactly how Fine Gael and Fianna Fail want it to work, at the request of their vulture fund and developer friends.

  4. Population increasing at a rate much higher than houses are being built, but there is no link to the increasing homeless numbers?

    The math ain’t mathing. If every single immigrant who came here in the last 2 years went home tomorrow, it would more than free up enough housing for the 14k+ registered homeless here.

    Getting an appointment with the GNIB when you arrive here takes 6 months they are crippled under the weight of so many new arrivals. If Ireland wants to continue issuing visas in such numbers it needs to have the infrastructure/services in place to handle it.

  5. How could 100s of thousands of extra people in the country which contributes to rising rents due to supply and demand have anything to do with homelessness. Thanks Mr. President for your enlightening comments from your free house in Phoenix park.

  6. Hadrian_Constantine on

    Originally, no. But with a housing crises that been getting worse each year since 2017, it is now a contributing factor.

  7. CurrencyDesperate286 on

    “Not linked” is definitely not true. More people obviously require houses – that is incredibly basic logic.

    Has immigration become too big of a focus recently? I would say yes.

  8. CarelessEquivalent3 on

    Not enough homes for the people that are already here, more people keep arriving in their thousands, I’d say there might be a connection there alright Mick.

  9. Contradicting Harris – easy to see Harris is trying to absolve Fine Gael of their role in the housing crisis. Very low comments by him.

  10. Is immigration the main factor causing the homelessness crisis? No. Are both issues not linked, as the President claims? Wrong, of course they are. Quite simple.

  11. It’s just dishonest to claim that there is no link. Immigration is happening at a rate that far exceeds our ability to build the necessary houses. Thus creating a shortage, as this shortage get worse more and more people are going to find themselves homeless because of rising rents, lack of accommodation et cetera et cetera.

    Immigration is definitely a contributory factor. There is nothing that can be done about EU/UK immigration but we need a very strict policy regarding immigration from outside of these.

    More and more the public have just been told to ignore reality when criticising or discussing government policies. Be it on housing, environmental issues, transport et cetera.

  12. Icy-Philosophy-8466 on

    “Wealthy socialist scoffs at detrimental consequences of immigration policies he has repeatedly promoted.”

    Colour me shocked

  13. Icy_Marsupial_1249 on

    Can’t believe I used to like this guy, this is extreme levels of sticking your head in the sand

  14. BrickEnvironmental37 on

    I’m no anti legal immigration person, but to say it’s not a factor is purely dishonest or deluded.

  15. Yes the housing system was broken long before Russia invaded Ukraine. Yes it is specifically designed to enrich those already wealthy enough to use housing as investment portfolios. Yes it is a market approach that fails to deliver affordable places to live.

    He’s right to make the point that successive governments have designed this unjust housing system. FF/FG would love to deflect blame from themselves and immigration is absolutely a scapegoat.

    How we define homelessness and whether we include refugees is kind of pedantic, what matters is they don’t have anything close to security of home.

    But how anyone can suggest inward migration doesn’t add stress to an already undersupplied system is beyond me.

    Years of continued property price inflation has pushed more and more people to depend on state housing supports, be it HAP, social/affordable housing etc.

    Either immigrants are wealthy enough to buy homes at inflated prices (which distorts the market towards providing more overpriced homes), or they’re financially struggling and putting added pressure on our housing support systems.

    The only way they aren’t affecting the housing shortage is if they’re being put into those horrific refugee camps and then moving back to their countries. Most of those we do return are citing housing shortages for reasons to return home. But most of those who can get support will stay here.

    All that being said, could we accept immigrants while dramatically increasing the number of homes that are available, absolutely. Should we chose one or the other, no.

  16. CumBlastedYourMom on

    I am a little disappointed in this, I guess social cohesion is the aim, but working class areas are getting the majority of the influx while being less able to deal with it.

  17. Professional_Elk_489 on

    If they are in tents does that count as homeless?

    Because if yes, then obv it counts massively

  18. Intelligent-Donut137 on

    People like Higgins telling obvious easily disprovable lies like this is destroying the credibility of our political systems.

  19. Impressive_Essay_622 on

    Mods… Can we do an experiment… For the good of the sub. 

    Can we just make a post with the word ‘immigration,’ on it and see how many bots comment? 

    Or someone just make a quick obvious fake story with a llm and with mods permission we post it. 

    Just to gauge bots v honest engagement. And who actually reads articles lol. 

  20. Educational-Pay4112 on

    This type of commentary doesn’t help. Regardless of someone’s legal status it’s plain as day to see that Ireland growing population has a housing need far in excess of the current housing stock. 

    All MDH is doing here is stoking the flames. 

  21. Chance-Plantain8314 on

    Sorry lads, but if your ire is towards immigrants and not towards foreign investment funds that are incentivized to come in and buy up all the property and rentals, you’re angry at the wrong people.

  22. Ireland population was dropped under 3 million in 1926. It wasn’t until 70+ years later in 2003 that it crossed the 4 million mark. It only took 19 years to cross the 5 million mark in 2022. Since then our population has grown by quarter of a million (5,255,017). At this rate it will only take us 8 years to cross the 6 million mark. The rate of growth is accelerating.

    Immigration is good for Ireland, we wouldn’t be the country we are today without the contribution immigrants have made. The problem is that since 2016 immigration has exceeded housing output. What’s worse is that as we have increased housing output, our population growth has accelerated.

    I hear a lot of people here say that the solution to the housing crisis is to build more houses. I disagree. I think extra housing output will just mean more people moving here. There are so many factors that make Ireland an attractive a place to live and work.

  23. NopePeaceOut2323 on

    We would have had this same problem without them, they are a convenient scapegoat. The government knows how to use people for their own benefit, while pretending like they care about the immigrants.