Post-neoliberalization and the Irish private rental sector

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed new policy interventions in many countries seeking to get to grips with challenges in the private rental sector (PRS), including rent regulation and enhanced security of tenure. This raises the possibility of a shift away from market-based approaches which have characterized neoliberal housing regimes over recent decades. This article adds to emerging work on post-neoliberalism by examining policy change in the Irish PRS. The Irish PRS is an illustrative example because it has experienced rapid increases in the proportion of households renting and in average rents, but also because of the large volume of reforms introduced since 2015. Examining these shifts through the lens of ‘market rule’, the article conceptualizes the Irish PRS as in a process of ‘post-neoliberalization’ in that it has moved away from the commodification of PRS housing, and yet continues to be shaped by the transnational political economy of institutional investment, itself largely a product of previous phases of neoliberalization.

Keywords:

• Private rental sector
• neoliberalism
• housing policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The Department of Housing was at the time merged with the Department of the Environment.

2 These measures are presented in the Department of Housing’s (2021b) Housing for All strategy.

3 ‘Market rent’ was defined as the rent a ‘willing tenant’ would pay a landlord for a dwelling. In practice, this meant that there was no cap or limit on rent reviews, although they could only occur once within a 12 month period. If a tenant believed they had received a rent increase beyond market rent, they could register a dispute with the RTB and provide evidence of average rents for similar properties in their location.

4 Oireachtas Debate, Seanad Éireann, 17 November, 2021, Vo. 280, No. 5, Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Housing. URL: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2021-11-17/13/ [Last accessed 10/12/21]