'Scourge' of Airbnb impacting Mayo housing market
Unoccupied holiday homes and Airbnb is having a detrimental impact on housing supply in Mayo, it has been claimed.
Airbnb is a “scourge” and empty holiday homes are also contributing to the housing crisis in Mayo, it has been claimed.
Director of Services with Mayo County Council, Tom Gilligan, delivered a presentation on the local authority’s vacant property strategy at a meeting of the Housing Strategic Policy Committee (SPC).
In 2016, Mayo had 10,150 vacant homes. The 2022 Census showed 8,922 vacant houses in the county. However, the number of holiday homes in Mayo between 2016 and 2022 rose by 23%, Mr Gilligan told the meeting. It went from 4,855 to 5,987.
“I think that’s a very interesting stat,” said Mr Gilligan. “We have this stock that is lying vacant and empty for 11 months of the year,” he added.
Cllr Peter Flynn said the Louisburgh area provides a snapshot of the impact of holiday homes on housing supply in Mayo.
“This is a town with 366 people on the last CSO Census. There are at least 100 homes I could knock on tonight where there will be no lights on, no heat on because they are empty,” he commented.
Cllr Flynn said penalties need to be applied on holiday homes that are lying idle for the majority of the year.
“We need to take radical action. We, as a local authority, have the power to bring in whatever legislation we require. If a house isn’t occupied for a minimum of six months in the year, and the person isn’t on the electoral register then we start with something in the region of a €2,000 penalty,” said Cllr Flynn. “And really make people consider whether they want to continue to hold a house in the west coast for four weeks of the year,” he added.
The Fine Gael councillor said Louisburgh could be a pilot scheme for such an approach.
“We are fed up with having all these houses empty while people struggle to get on the property ladder.”
Mr Gilligan said “there is no doubt at all” that online rental site Airbnb is having a detrimental impact on housing provision in Mayo. He said he feels it is “morally wrong” when he sees homes go up on Airbnb in the midst of a housing crisis. The Director of Services pointed to Westport and Belmullet as areas where Airbnb homes are particularly prevalent.
Castlebar-based Independent Cllr Harry Barrett said AirbnB is a “scourge", adding that Mayo County Council has to “take the gloves off” when it comes to tackling dereliction and vacancy. He said the “full gamut of penalties” should be applied to the owners of vacant properties.
