Wexford Councillors call on Government to hold right to housing referendum

Kenneth Fox

Councillors in Wexford are calling on the Government to hold a referendum to introduce a right to housing.

The local authority voted in favour of a national vote for a constitutional right to a home.

More than 15,500 adults and children were living in State-funded emergency accommodation in April.

As the Irish Independent reports, submitting a motion on this issue, Sinn Féin councillor Tom Forde called upon the government to “recognise and vindicate the right of all persons to adequate housing” and “to enshrine this right in our constitution through a referendum”.

The council subsequently carried the motion and will now be forwarded to each of Co Wexford’s seven TDs requesting their support.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Forde said, “The housing crisis is the greatest social challenge facing our country. Thousands of people are trapped in insecure housing, locked out of home ownership, paying unaffordable rents or facing homelessness.

"Housing is a basic human right, and it is time that right was recognised and protected in our Constitution.

“The government has repeatedly spoken about tackling homelessness, yet it continues to avoid the structural reforms needed to guarantee housing as a right. A referendum would allow the people themselves to decide whether future governments should be constitutionally required to uphold that right.

“The people deserve the opportunity to have their say on one of the defining issues of our time.”

Separately, Cllr Forde also asked that WCC “desist from issuing exit notices” to people in emergency accommodation who have been abiding by” the terms of agreement set by the council.