Join the 5th July all-island Housing demonstration in Dublin

The Belfast branch of CATU (Community Action Tenants Union), alongside other Ulster branches, will travel to Dublin on Saturday 5th July to march in urgent protest against the rapidly escalating housing crisis in Ireland.

Representing thousands of members across the country, CATU believes that both Stormont and the Dáil  have demonstrated their inability and lack of commitment to addressing homelessness and housing inequality. 

Kara Macdonald, member of CATU Belfast, says: 

‘CATU Belfast urges anyone and everyone who cares about the people of this city to join us at the national demo on 5th July. The housing system in the north is broken, with private companies profiting off the suffering of ordinary people, rents constantly increasing, abysmal living conditions, and the Housing Executive pushing evictions on recently bereaved succession tenants. With landlordism and fascism on the rise, the only solution is a unified pushback. March for your children, your neighbours, and your community – join us in demanding safe, secure homes for all.’

Conal Matthews, PPR Organiser and Human Rights Campaigner, says: 

‘Local issues with housing continue to worsen, with our current housing situation now very similar and, in most cases, worse than in 1969. It is clear that housing has become an increasingly lucrative market and that the overwhelming housing need is still in Catholic-majority areas. There are over 3000 empty homes in Belfast and over 20,000 empty homes in the north. The government has an obligation to house people, and the land to build, it is a political choice that they do not. This is not the fault of Civil Servants working for the NIHE, but the consequence of a culture of apathy and greed. 1 in 5 MLAs are landlords.’ 

Erin Swaby, member of CATU Derry, says: 

‘I am going to the All Island Housing Demo on behalf of all the many family, friends, carers and other members of our community who are experiencing evictions, extortion or being kept (trapped) in unfit housing. I want to be an advocate for our most vulnerable, they are being unfairly priced out of the rental market whilst landlords and the estate agents who protect them are being allowed to operate like modern day mobsters.’

List of demands:

1. Build and maintain public housing
2. Re-instate the eviction ban in the South and introduce a ban on evictions in the North.
3. House the Homeless: End the scandal of children growing up in emergency accommodation by 2026.
4. Lower Rents – Stop the squeeze on tenants
5. End Direct Provision
6. Properly resource the tenant in situ scheme
7. Homes not Holiday Lets – end the takeover of AirBnbs
8. Build and resource culturally appropriate Traveller Accommodation
9. Ban Vulture Funds
10. Build communities of care: rapidly expand community addiction and mental health services to above pre-2015 levels

The all-island housing demo will take place on Saturday 5th July at 1pm, meeting at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin. 

Bus from Belfast (Murray St) -Form here: https://forms.gle/PjHTXVyPu2cVU4329 

Bus from Derry, Form here: https://forms.gle/FCNwVWzQAeR5FBL76

 You can join your local CATU branch at https://catuireland.org/join/

Sources:

Fact Check NI – Have social housing waiting lists almost doubled in 20 years?

Right to a Home | A place to feel safe, secure and valued | PPR

Kara MacDonald is member of CATU-Belfast