Cliff Taylor: Too rich for social housing, too poor to rent or buy. Who will help the squeezed middle?
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/12/13/cliff-taylor-too-rich-for-social-housing-too-poor-to-rent-or-buy-who-will-help-the-squeezed-middle/
Posted by RossaDeVereMcNally
21 Comments
>This concept of the “squeezed middle” in the Irish housing market was identified by the Commission on Housing, whose 2024 report put it as applying roughly to households earning between €40,000 and €90,000. Too well off to apply for social housing, but not earning enough to survive in the private market, they have few clear routes into the housing market
Nobody will.
The middle class in Ireland exist to be the good little worker bees for the multi-nationals which keep the country flush with corporate tax money and prop up the welfare class and those eligible for HAP (or whatever program it is in Ireland now- left the country for years !!!)
Definitely not the fucking government anyway. Absolutely nothing in the budget this year if you get up and go to work everyday.
Isn’t it amazing how it works huh?
Your neighbor in a social estate who doesn’t need to wake up early for work may actually be better off than you because you just don’t make enough to be competitive.
Not even mentioning rich fat cats with multiple properties of course.
Why does this sub always direct their hate at working class people instead of the politicians, developers, vulture funds and landlords that make the country’s housing policy?
Absolutely fucking no one. Vote for the parties that offer the biggest tax cuts, only thing that matters.
Well just a glance around world politics these days seems to indicate they want rid of the middle anyway. The rich are getting substantially richer, the poor are getting poorer and the middle are disappearing
Oh I’m in this post
They government should be building massive housing estates to rent based on income. They talk about getting the social mix right. Then build social housing up the limit and charge rents based on income.
It will be a long term project, use local builders, plenty of lads would love a steady state job if there was a guarantee of 10 years work.
Put out the call for our tradespeople, nurses, doctors who have emigrated to come home and put them high on the list to receive one of these homes…..
A large demographic of the middle will use the opportunity of these houses to save for their own mortgage in time and others will reach pension age where their rent will fall in line with income.
We are approaching a massive issue in the not too distant future where people will be retiring while renting, and not being able to afford to rent..
We cannot afford houses but we can afford absurd tax rates, universal social charges and ever increasing tarifs on roads, food etc. Shambles
Their wealthy family. They will receive a gift.
I earned 140k
Even if you do qualify for social housing, the average waiting time is 12 years.
I have friends in social housing who are far better off than I am, they pay about 200e a month for a 3 bedroom house. They both do a few bits in cash in the side on top of their part-time work. They have more holidays, they go out etc…things I rarely get to do
It’s frustrating being in this position. I’ve been renting since I’ve been in college and now I’m working full time with the option to overtime. Yet, I’m still stuck in a house share. I’ve never been closed with my roommates and some house shares never feel like home. I’d be happy with a small studio apartment but there’s a lack of supply and some of the ones that I’d actually consider a studio are 2,000 euro alone. The rest are bedsits or a kitchenette shoved into a bedroom that are going for 1500 euros.
County council housing should be open to all who want it. The rent they pay should reflect their earnings. We should reject the name “social housing” which was invented to stigmatise people. The county council housing in the estate behind me is top class and I love to live in it.
Help? Who said anything anything about help? Now, pay your taxes, your rent, your health insurance, your childcare, your pension and your car insurance.
let the conformers fry 🙏
The squeezed middle is defined as households that earn 40-90k pa. So basically any household with one earner on anything from the average to double the average income or any household with two earners with average incomes. So to be clear the squeezed middle is actually the vast majority of the working population, and what would have been considered absolute models for mortgages up until the 2008 crash.
Gonna have to help yourself. Cos nobody is coming to help you.
The government don’t care because they will ALWAYS be voted back in.
If you don’t own a house, you aren’t their target market for voters.
So they don’t need to care.
The housing issue won’t be solved. It’s working great for there voter base.