Latest news with #housingcrisis
Irish Times
28 minutes ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Irish home prices accelerate to 7.9% in May, led by inflation outside Dublin
Irish home prices rose at an annual rate of 7.9 per cent in May, led by properties outside of Dublin and fuelled by ongoing supply shortages and as the European Central Bank (ECB) continued to cut official borrowing costs. The increase marked an uptick from a rate of 7.6 per cent recorded in April, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Wednesday. Property prices in Dublin rose by 6.9 per cent, while those outside the capital jumped 8.7 per cent. The median, or midpoint, price of a dwelling purchased in the 12 months to May 2025 was €370,000. The highest median price was €670,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, while the lowest median price was €186,000 in Leitrim. The most expensive Eircode area over the period was A94 (Blackrock, Dublin) with a median price of €770,000, while F45 (Castlerea, Roscommon) had the least expensive price of €150,000, the CSO said. READ MORE The Government, formed in January with a strong mandate to tackle the State's housing crisis, is widely expected to fall well short of its target for 41,000 homes to be completed this year as it eyes 300,000 new homes by 2030. The Central Bank said last week that its was 'surprised' by the lack of progress and that it now estimates that only 32,500 units to be delivered in 2025. Some 30,330 homes were built in 2024. The European Central Bank (ECB) cut its rates for the eighth time in a year last month, leaving its key deposit rate at 2 per cent, half of where it stood in early June 2024 amid a battle against inflation. Most economists expect the ECB to reduce borrowing costs again later this year, even if US Donald Trump's rapidly-evolving tariff policies are complicating decision-making across monetary authorities globally.
CTV News
an hour ago
- Business
- CTV News
Did support for housing mega-project undermine The London Plan-- or address current reality?
The London Plan's prescription to fight sprawl is to build up, not out. However, Mayor Josh Morgan suggests the local housing crisis has even outpaced the ambitious density targets initially included in the foundational planning documents that guide future development in London. On Tuesday, the Planning and Environment Committee considered a planning application by Southside Construction to permit a cluster of high rise residential buildings up to 16-storeys tall at 6309 Pack Rd. despite strong opposition from Londoners who live in a neighbourhood of single family homes across the road. Neighbours took turns during the public meeting warning members of PEC about the potential impacts of boosting the density on the property. Several explaining they purchased their homes believing the farm field would be developed into a mix of medium and low density housing no taller than nine storeys, as per The London Plan and Southwest Area Secondary Plan. The mayor responded that the maximum building heights contained within those plans are being updated because the current housing crisis wasn't foreseen when they were written a decade ago. 'Everything that's happened since then, with this housing pressure that we've had, these plans are not reflective of the pressure that we face today,' Morgan said. Coun. Sam Trosow expressed concern about deviating so far from the long-term planning policies developed in consultation with the public. 'You will be undermining people's confidence in the integrity of a previous planning process, and I say that with all due respect to staff who have put in a lot of work over the years,' Trosow warned. Municipalities must review and update their Official Plans every five years. Currently, city staff are reviewing some of the building heights prescribed in The London Plan and its related Secondary Plans. pack road - london plan - july 2025 Bostwick Area planning map from the Southwest Area Secondary Plan showing medium density along Pack Road (Source: City of London) The staff recommendation to approve the rezoning of 6309 Pack Rd. includes a long list of conditions, known as holding provisions, that the developer has to meet before each of the high rise buildings can receive a building permit. Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis directed some of his comments directly to neighbours concerned about the impact of higher density development on the site. 'This is a 15 to 20 year build out. These buildings aren't going to be there tomorrow. They're not going to be there next year,' Lewis said. 'These holding provision conditions around things like stormwater management, the capacities on the sewers, the traffic impacts, all roll out over time.' 'I have grave, grave concern that we are going to say yes (to the rezoning) and then we'll fix it up along the way,' responded Coun. Anna Hopkins who represents the area. 'We heard this is going to take a long time to get it fixed-- but why are we approving it?' Members of PEC voted 4-1 (Peloza opposed) in favour of the rezoning —including a request that shadow studies be considered before each high rise is given the green light. Council will consider the recommendation from PEC at its meeting July 22.
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Plenty of people will happily live in a smaller, darker unit if the price is right
Anyone who has slogged through an Ikea store has paused to marvel at the brightly lit, magically configured, perfectly tiny apartments kitted out in its space-saving systems. A friend currently suffocating in a bad relationship looks at the tiny space with longing. For her the words 'studio apartment' conjure up nirvana. It's about psychological freedom, not physical space, she says. She had a similar space while living abroad. But really it's about affordability. You might call it desperate; she calls it realistic. As the angry exchanges over shrinking apartment sizes carried on, developers just hunkered down and waited. Apartments are not getting built. The many casualties of the inertia include my friend whose dreams are embodied in Ikea's perfectly formed, affordable studios. When she moves on as she must, she will join the 43 per cent of the population who are single and the quarter of all Irish adults who now live in one-person households. Those numbers are climbing and are replicated across the EU. People are no longer coupling up in the same numbers and birth rates are plunging worldwide. More than half the people on the housing list are single. Strange and disturbing as it may seem to a society long immersed in the language of the needs of 'hard-working families', single people cannot be shunted aside as an afterthought in a country that comes third in the ranking of under-occupied homes in the EU. Over the years, a reluctance to recognise a trend was evident in planning strategies. Back in September 2007 – just as Ireland was beginning the slide into bankruptcy – Dublin City Council stipulated that the number of one-bedroom apartments in any new development should be reduced from 45 per cent to a maximum of just 20 per cent. Under current regulations, 50 per cent of the units in a development can be one-bedroom apartments but no more than a quarter can be studios, with a minimum floor size of 37 square metres. In Finland, a country often deemed to be the world's most successful at shrinking the housing and homeless problem, studio apartments average about 34sq m. READ MORE But for those on the sharp end of this row, it is not just about apartment sizes; it's about whether the 'relaxing of restrictions' will make more homes of any size available and whether they will actually make that new supply affordable for single people. We can indulge in circular discussions about the varying housing requirements of people at different phases in their lives and how desirable it would be for everyone to buy their forever apartment in their 20s in a 15-minute city, with room for a potential partner and maybe a few children. Obviously, as people couple up and have babies, they will need more floor space than a studio or one-bed apartment. [ Stuart Mathieson: Given the state of Dublin, the 15-minute city can't come quick enough Opens in new window ] But so-called starter homes exist for a reason. People first buy or rent what they can afford to get a roof over their heads. Growing careers and salaries may allow some to trade up for more space at some point. Others will trade a kitchen window and a few square metres for autonomy, security and location and make it a forever home. But single people with hard-earned savings – or those like my friend who have some money in hand, but are nearing the end of their working lives – are stymied by relentless price rises, while trying to outbid couples with twice their borrowing power. In 2024, a first-time buyer of a new home got an average mortgage of almost €322,000, according to the Banking and Payments Federation. To rent a modestly sized home in Dublin costs more than €2,000 a month. My friend did her time in bedsits and grimy flats in her 20s. But unlike her young offspring who share apartments and costs with several others, she cannot envisage sharing a space with strangers at her age. For that house rental, a working couple pay €1,000 each. Three sharing might pay about €700 each. The single person pays in full in a market that has made her particularly dependent on scarce private rental housing. [ Living in a small apartment: 'It's claustrophobic ... you can't get away from each other' Opens in new window ] My friend has no choice but to put her faith in housing minister James Browne 's promise to 'transform housing delivery in this country and activate the private sector'. He says the new measures should mean cuts of €50,000 to €100,000 in costs. He is 'prepared to take risks', he says. 'I think we have over-corrected from the crash and we have been way too cautious.' It's not an original thought. Leo Varadkar regrets what he calls 'excessive caution at certain points' about big investment decisions such as housing. But already construction industry figures are saying the savings will be much lower, at €30,000 at most. Or, if developers gain the raft of further concessions being demanded – zero VAT rating for example – the savings might even hit €40,000 or so. It brings us nowhere near €100,000. Either way the true risk falls on my friend and all those of sufficient faith to accept the trade-off – a darker, smaller unit designed for one very tidy person in exchange for a home of her own at a price she can afford. We've seen this movie before. The fear is that we will get the first part of the trade – ugly Soviet blocks of them – but not the second. Will there be a meaningful price difference between a studio and a one-bed to compensate for the sacrifice of space, light and a balcony (which can be a lifeline for a housebound person but apparently adds €15,000 to costs)? It certainly didn't happen in the buy-to-let developments. No one disputes that political risk is necessary amid inertia. Restrictions have been lifted in response to developers' demands, all of which will entail a cost to the taxpayer, remember, as well as home buyers. But what exactly are we all getting for this risk? Where are the reassurances, the detailed cost breakdowns? Politicians and developers have diced with such risks and standards in the past when the culture was 'let 'er rip'. The fact they are permitted to do something means they probably will. In the current 'we were way too cautious' territory, who will hold them all to account? Where will the balance fall? We don't know. That's the risk.
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Immigration numbers a third higher than promised despite Anthony Albanese vow to cap overseas student numbers
Immigration levels are a third higher than Labor promised before the election despite moves to cap international student numbers. In the year to May, 447,620 migrants moved to Australia on a permanent and long-term basis, with this period covering the federal election. This was 33.6 per cent higher than the 335,000 level Treasury forecast for the 2024-25 financial year that ended in June, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data has revealed. While net immigration levels moderated to 340,800 in 2024, almost in line with March pre-election Budget projections, there was a big influx in February for the start of the university year. During that month, 159,610 migrants moved to Australia but when permanent and long-term departures were factored in, the monthly net immigration level was still high at 111,740 during a housing crisis. This occurred after Coalition senators last blocked Labor's plan to cap new international enrolments at 270,000 for 2025. With Parliament resuming next week, the federal government is expected to introduce new legislation to cap international student numbers but Labor would need the support of the Greens to achieve this. Overall immigration numbers are lower than the record-high levels of 548,800 reached in the year to September 2023. But Australia is still in the midst of a housing crisis with just 179,410 new homes completed in the year to March, which would barely cover the immigration influx based on households having 2.5 people on average. The capital city rental vacancy rate stood at just 1.3 per cent in June, new SQM Research figures showed. The cities receiving the biggest influx of overseas migrants ironically had the highest rental vacancy rates, with Sydney having a 1.6 per cent level, compared with 1.8 per cent for Melbourne. Rental vacancies were tighter in cities receiving a large intake from interstate migrants, with Brisbane at 0.9 per cent and Perth at 0.8 per cent. SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said building activity was failing to keep pace with rapid population growth. 'Most regions still show signs of stress, and the recent spike in dwelling approvals needs to translate into physical supply before rental conditions meaningfully improve,' he said. The Institute of Public Affairs think tank's deputy executive director Daniel Wild said the net intake of 33,230 in May was a record high for that time of year, and was worsening Australia's housing crisis. 'Out-of-control migration intakes, and housing shortfalls, are making it impossible for Australians to get ahead,' he said. 'Excessive migration has played a significant role in pummelling Australia's economic productivity, creating extended periods of negative per capita economic growth, and exacerbating the housing and rental crises being experienced by Australians and new migrants alike.' Australia was in a per capita recession from early 2023 until the September quarter of 2024, where output for every Australian went backwards. Gross domestic product per capita shrank again in the March quarter of 2025. 'The federal government has overseen negative per capita economic growth in nine of the last eleven full quarters recorded since May 2022,' Mr Wild said. 'As the federal government has relied on the lazy approach of migration to keep the aggregate economy afloat, the overall economic pie has grown at a headline level but has left individual Australians with an ever-shrinking slice.'
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
United Way Report Urges Action as African Asylum Seekers Face Systemic Barriers Across GTA
TORONTO, July 15, 2025 /CNW/ - A new report from United Way Greater Toronto reveals that African asylum seekers continue to face profound barriers in their resettlement journey — from unaffordable housing and employment discrimination to systemic anti-Black racism and uneven access to basic supports. Understanding the Experiences of African Asylum Seekers was initiated in response to the 2023 refugee crisis, when hundreds of newly arrived asylum seekers — many from African countries — were forced to sleep on the streets as the shelter system buckled under pressure. Developed in partnership with the City of Toronto, and with support from the Region of Peel, York Region, and an advisory committee of community leaders, the report draws on interviews with 29 African asylum seekers and nine service providers, offering an unfiltered look at the challenges people face — and the steps we need to take to fix them. "Collaboration is key to tackling the challenges this crisis has exposed. From the frontline to all levels of government, hand in hand with those affected, we need to be working together," said Nation Cheong, Vice President of Community Impact and Mobilization at United Way Greater Toronto. "This research — shaped by the lived experiences of asylum seekers — is helping us build a coordinated strategy to improve support systems and prevent future crises." The findings are impossible to ignore: Housing is out of reach. Many asylum seekers struggle to find safe, stable shelter, often facing discrimination or overcrowded conditions. Employment pathways are blocked. Foreign credential bias, racism, and restrictions on training access make it difficult to secure work. One participant recounted being told directly by an interviewer that they would not hire a Black person or an African. The system is fragmented. People encounter inconsistent information, limited legal aid, and a lack of culturally appropriate services — especially for Black asylum seekers. Relocation doesn't solve the problem. One participant, a 2SLGBTQ+ asylum seeker and mother of three, described moving from Toronto to Cornwall in search of affordable housing, only to face an abrupt shelter closure, a lack of support from the government, and isolation from cultural communities. She eventually returned to Peel. Similar stories emerged from others who relocated to regions like Niagara, only to face racism, legal hurdles, and limited employment, forcing many to return to the GTA. Racism is a throughline. Anti-Black racism shows up at every turn: in housing, health care, employment, and service delivery. However, the report also highlights what is working and where change is possible. It highlights promising practices like wraparound support from Black-led and faith-based organizations, trauma-informed programming, hiring staff with lived experience, and better digital access. To help guide next steps, the report outlines three key areas for action: Strengthen programs and services through centralized resource hubs, peer mentorship, and culturally responsive care. Invest in frontline organizations — especially Black-led agencies — to meet urgent needs and build long-term stability. Advance policy change to fast-track asylum claims, address systemic racism, and remove barriers to employment — including systemic bias against foreign credentials. The report also calls for the creation of accountability mechanisms such as formal complaint procedures and evaluations, giving asylum seekers a way to report discrimination or service failure and drive improvement. The report further emphasizes the need for increased advocacy to confront anti-Black racism and push for durable policy reform — ensuring that what happened in 2023 is not repeated. United Way Greater Toronto is acting on these recommendations with an initial $400,000+ investment in two community-led initiatives: one by CAFCAN Social Services and one by African Community Services of Peel. Together, these projects will support 200 African asylum seekers — helping at least 50 secure stable housing — while improving access to employment and culturally relevant care. Read the full report here. About United Way Greater Toronto: As the largest non-government funder of community services in the GTA, United Way Greater Toronto reinforces a crucial community safety net to support people living in poverty. United Way's network of agencies and initiatives in neighbourhoods across Peel, Toronto and York Region works to ensure that everyone has access to the programs and services they need to thrive. Mobilizing community support, United Way's work is rooted in ground-breaking research, strategic leadership, local advocacy and cross-sectoral partnerships committed to building a more equitable region and lasting solutions to the GTA's greatest challenges. SOURCE United Way Greater Toronto View original content to download multimedia: 擷取數據時發生錯誤 登入存取你的投資組合 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤
