Landlordism 2.0

[clarshack]

Against my better judgement, I'll stick my head above the parapet lol. I'm a landlord and and I'd like to think I'm a very fair and ethical one and not, in the words of wobbler a "greedy, callous skilless c**t"  . Happy to answer any questions as honestly as I can, though anyone that thinks it is a straight forward, sit back and let the money roll in is badly mistaken. Its no doubt a great way to invest and  make an income, as it allows a great deal of flexibility time wise, and property investment is extremely resilient to inflation. However it would certainly not be for everyone. Can be a lot of hassle with maintenance, tenants etc, and I can see how people would find it extremely stressful. I would agree with Mike to a certain extent, that you should be able to pay your mortgage if the rent payments stopped, though only up to a point. You would be doing extremely well to make a 10% return on your investment, more likely 7 or 8. So the way interest rates are at present, I don't think thats exorbitant returns for the outlay and risk undertaken.
The carry on in Dublin is a totally different ball game.

Look-up is talking alot of sense

I'm an accidental landlord and have been very lucky to have had good tenants. Had a Lithuanian family in the house for 10 years until recently and they were the best tenants you could wish for as they treated the place like it was their own, and there's only about 5 years til the property is paid off so touch wood the current tenants continue to be as good.

[Taylor]

Accidental landlord as well.

Rent covers the mortgage and rates with £10 left over after the mortgage payments increased.

Tenants in for around 8 years - a family - no rent increases in that time and they look after all of the maintenance.

I have had conversations in the past with other people who have multiple houses and they reckon I am mad to not increase the rent. But if it isnt costing me money and I am getting no hassle whatsoever from the tenants I dont see they point for a couple of extra quid a month.

[trueblue1234]

Accidental landlord as well.

Rent covers the mortgage and rates with £10 left over after the mortgage payments increased.

Tenants in for around 8 years - a family - no rent increases in that time and they look after all of the maintenance.

I have had conversations in the past with other people who have multiple houses and they reckon I am mad to not increase the rent. But if it isnt costing me money and I am getting no hassle whatsoever from the tenants I dont see they point for a couple of extra quid a month.

Same boat myself. House rented out for 6 years now and tenants are ideal tenants so haven't increased the rent. Prob a bit on the low side now but no headaches which is well worth a couple of hundred a year. If they decide to move on will prob readjust then at that stage.

[LC]

As long as each property wipes its face that is the main thing,  good tenants are hard to come by.

[PMG1]

I have a bit of a portfolio I built up over 25 years, don't work on the public sector so my properties are my pension,  so well experienced in the game. One thing I would always argue is a good tenant is much better than a good weekly rent. I have a couple of properties that have tenants in them for 15 years, they are paying 30% below the market price but covering the mortgages and give no trouble, too good to push out. I have a Romanian family in a house I used to rent to students, much less hassle and very good tenants.  It's not a game for everyone and I got in at the right time but you don't always win with them all so need to be prepared for bumps in the road.

[LC]

Your right PMG1 re timing.  I bought a new build town house in a development for 115k around 2006/07 and even today just about wipes its face.  Developer built a similar type of development in the same town with similar house types selling around 160k 12 months later just before things went pear shape.  Rent in this areas is the same so pity those that bought the 160k houses, not alone are they having to prop the mortgage on top of rental income but house would hardly be even worth 160k today.

[Itchy]

So do you think there should be any actions available for landlords in cases where tenants don't pay rent? Or just tough sh!t and they should absorb the cost?

Yes there should.

What would it look like? It has to be enough of a deterrent to prevent widespread abuse of the rental system by tenants.

No idea, I don't set policy or have any plans to do so. Just absolutely zero sympathy for someone who buys a second property without affordability to repay the mortgage, then complains when it doesn't go according to plan!

The rent is the affordability. Handy enough to get tenants, if you've some bum refusing to pay rent out to f**k

I understand how some people see that as cold and callous and "throwing families on the side of the road" but that is the failure of government and social housing. People on the waiting list for over 10yrs! It really boils my piss when politicians try to lay that at the door of private individuals. They need to stop sniping and vote fishing and work together to come up with a solution. They literally found housing for thousands of Ukranians at the drop of a hat.

Landlords will generally work with tenants where there is good will and genuine effort. There are a lot of things to happen before someone gets turfed out. Hard to have sympathy for someone absolutely refusing to pay rent. There are welfare payments, HAP schemes, family supports, rent supplements etc readily available so sure, paying the full rent might be difficult but to pay the sum total of SFA, yes, you're a bum and a fraud. Literally.

Just wondering then do you think it is ok for a landlord to knowingly evict someone who is paying their rent knowing that there is no accommodation elsewhere that they can afford, thus making them homeless - just because it is not the landlords fault that there isn't other property available. Not saying landlords created the problem (that would be FFG) but unfortunately you are part of the solution and until housing is available, the state has a duty to do whatever has to be done to keep a roof over the heads of Irish Citizens.

[Milltown Row2]

So do you think there should be any actions available for landlords in cases where tenants don't pay rent? Or just tough sh!t and they should absorb the cost?

Yes there should.

What would it look like? It has to be enough of a deterrent to prevent widespread abuse of the rental system by tenants.

No idea, I don't set policy or have any plans to do so. Just absolutely zero sympathy for someone who buys a second property without affordability to repay the mortgage, then complains when it doesn't go according to plan!

The rent is the affordability. Handy enough to get tenants, if you've some bum refusing to pay rent out to f**k

I understand how some people see that as cold and callous and "throwing families on the side of the road" but that is the failure of government and social housing. People on the waiting list for over 10yrs! It really boils my piss when politicians try to lay that at the door of private individuals. They need to stop sniping and vote fishing and work together to come up with a solution. They literally found housing for thousands of Ukranians at the drop of a hat.

Landlords will generally work with tenants where there is good will and genuine effort. There are a lot of things to happen before someone gets turfed out. Hard to have sympathy for someone absolutely refusing to pay rent. There are welfare payments, HAP schemes, family supports, rent supplements etc readily available so sure, paying the full rent might be difficult but to pay the sum total of SFA, yes, you're a bum and a fraud. Literally.

Just wondering then do you think it is ok for a landlord to knowingly evict someone who is paying their rent knowing that there is no accommodation elsewhere that they can afford, thus making them homeless - just because it is not the landlords fault that there isn't other property available. Not saying landlords created the problem (that would be FFG) but unfortunately you are part of the solution and until housing is available, the state has a duty to do whatever has to be done to keep a roof over the heads of Irish Citizens.

Could the Gov, not come in and pay in part the rent to cover any losses the landlord has? Seeing as it is a Gov problem and the landlords are helping out the gov due to the housing problems they created

[Itchy]

So do you think there should be any actions available for landlords in cases where tenants don't pay rent? Or just tough sh!t and they should absorb the cost?

Yes there should.

What would it look like? It has to be enough of a deterrent to prevent widespread abuse of the rental system by tenants.

No idea, I don't set policy or have any plans to do so. Just absolutely zero sympathy for someone who buys a second property without affordability to repay the mortgage, then complains when it doesn't go according to plan!

The rent is the affordability. Handy enough to get tenants, if you've some bum refusing to pay rent out to f**k

I understand how some people see that as cold and callous and "throwing families on the side of the road" but that is the failure of government and social housing. People on the waiting list for over 10yrs! It really boils my piss when politicians try to lay that at the door of private individuals. They need to stop sniping and vote fishing and work together to come up with a solution. They literally found housing for thousands of Ukranians at the drop of a hat.

Landlords will generally work with tenants where there is good will and genuine effort. There are a lot of things to happen before someone gets turfed out. Hard to have sympathy for someone absolutely refusing to pay rent. There are welfare payments, HAP schemes, family supports, rent supplements etc readily available so sure, paying the full rent might be difficult but to pay the sum total of SFA, yes, you're a bum and a fraud. Literally.

Just wondering then do you think it is ok for a landlord to knowingly evict someone who is paying their rent knowing that there is no accommodation elsewhere that they can afford, thus making them homeless - just because it is not the landlords fault that there isn't other property available. Not saying landlords created the problem (that would be FFG) but unfortunately you are part of the solution and until housing is available, the state has a duty to do whatever has to be done to keep a roof over the heads of Irish Citizens.

Could the Gov, not come in and pay in part the rent to cover any losses the landlord has? Seeing as it is a Gov problem and the landlords are helping out the gov due to the housing problems they created

Maybe to a point but i would say some landlords are looking to evict to sell the property or are looking at the ridiculous high rents they can get due to shortage of housing - greed. Some maybe are just looking for a small adjustment upwards. Anyway, government arent interested in the small people down here, FFG will stamp them into the ground so their buddies can make as much money as possible.

[Milltown Row2]

In fairness I don't have too much sympathy for people who got in thinking they were going to making a killing off renting homes if they couldn't afford to buy the house without relying on the rent to cover their outlay.

A bit like the guy on radio yesterday complaining he'll miss out on the child protection benefits because it comes in next year and his child will be at school. but then goes on to say he's in the top 1% of earners and works from home twice a week and his wife is a part time teacher ffs!

[seafoid]

Irish house prices only make sense if interest rates are on the floor. 8% on 400K is 32,000 per year and close to a nurse's salary.
Inflation is out of control so rates will go a lot higher. The GAAboard is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2023/03/16/ecb-pushes-ahead-with-another-05-interest-rate-hike-despite-market-turmoil/Taken together, the ECB rate hikes from last July will add a total of €640 a month to a €330,000 tracker mortgage.
Rachel McGovern of umbrella group Brokers Ireland said the situation is very worrying for the vast majority of mortgage holders, not just tracker mortgage holders.
"There are about 315,000 borrowers, including tracker mortgage holders, on variable rates.  The remaining 400,000 plus mortgage borrowers are on fixed rates, but over six in ten are fixed for less than three years," she said.

[Look-Up!]

So do you think there should be any actions available for landlords in cases where tenants don't pay rent? Or just tough sh!t and they should absorb the cost?

Yes there should.

What would it look like? It has to be enough of a deterrent to prevent widespread abuse of the rental system by tenants.

No idea, I don't set policy or have any plans to do so. Just absolutely zero sympathy for someone who buys a second property without affordability to repay the mortgage, then complains when it doesn't go according to plan!

The rent is the affordability. Handy enough to get tenants, if you've some bum refusing to pay rent out to f**k

I understand how some people see that as cold and callous and "throwing families on the side of the road" but that is the failure of government and social housing. People on the waiting list for over 10yrs! It really boils my piss when politicians try to lay that at the door of private individuals. They need to stop sniping and vote fishing and work together to come up with a solution. They literally found housing for thousands of Ukranians at the drop of a hat.

Landlords will generally work with tenants where there is good will and genuine effort. There are a lot of things to happen before someone gets turfed out. Hard to have sympathy for someone absolutely refusing to pay rent. There are welfare payments, HAP schemes, family supports, rent supplements etc readily available so sure, paying the full rent might be difficult but to pay the sum total of SFA, yes, you're a bum and a fraud. Literally.

Just wondering then do you think it is ok for a landlord to knowingly evict someone who is paying their rent knowing that there is no accommodation elsewhere that they can afford, thus making them homeless - just because it is not the landlords fault that there isn't other property available. Not saying landlords created the problem (that would be FFG) but unfortunately you are part of the solution and until housing is available, the state has a duty to do whatever has to be done to keep a roof over the heads of Irish Citizens.

Impossible to answer.

You'd have to be a heartless p***k to make someone homeless, someone who has been good to you for many years, if it was purely a means to put up your rent. Conversely it's equally heartless to deny someone access to their property if they or theirs are in danger of being homeless. Landlords fall under the category of Irish Citizens too.

End of the day it is the governments problem and they need to sort out social housing. Private rental market should be separate and there needs to be fluidity when it comes to leases and competition in it same as any healthy market.

Maybe you can answer your question with two scenarios.
1. You have a rental property 200 miles away well below market rent. Your daughter/son is starting university beside it in 6 months. Main reason you bought it in first place was with your kids in mind. They have no where else to stay. You happy to have them commuting for hours because someone else doesn't want to move 30 mins?
2. Your daughter/son has kid on the way. You'd like to rent them your spare property. Tenant is a decent person but there's nowhere else available at anything close to what you're charging. They don't want to move into their parent's garage. Do you move yours into your garage even though that's beneath other people. Again the main reason you bought rental in first place was with your kids in mind.

How do you legislate for situations like that or where the landlord is being a completely greedy heartless p***k? Government are totally to blame. One thing that people tend to overlook in homeless situation, and it is maybe one of the biggest factors to the crux of the issue where supply is static, falling occupancy rates increase homelessness. It's been an easy pitch lazy politicians been selling for years, promising more private ownership and running the nasty landlords out of town, all while sitting on their hands or being downright aggressive against new developments. That is always going to push people out on the street.
There needs to be incentives to get occupancy up. Funnily enough one of them is having a mortgage and needing rent and not leaving it idle. Someone else on here disgusted at someone having multiple properties and renting them out but said someone having 2 was a perfectly natural human need (I'm guessing holiday home) and no harm done. That's literally dropping occupancy rate to 50% at best, but probably much much less.

[Itchy]

So do you think there should be any actions available for landlords in cases where tenants don't pay rent? Or just tough sh!t and they should absorb the cost?

Yes there should.

What would it look like? It has to be enough of a deterrent to prevent widespread abuse of the rental system by tenants.

No idea, I don't set policy or have any plans to do so. Just absolutely zero sympathy for someone who buys a second property without affordability to repay the mortgage, then complains when it doesn't go according to plan!

The rent is the affordability. Handy enough to get tenants, if you've some bum refusing to pay rent out to f**k

I understand how some people see that as cold and callous and "throwing families on the side of the road" but that is the failure of government and social housing. People on the waiting list for over 10yrs! It really boils my piss when politicians try to lay that at the door of private individuals. They need to stop sniping and vote fishing and work together to come up with a solution. They literally found housing for thousands of Ukranians at the drop of a hat.

Landlords will generally work with tenants where there is good will and genuine effort. There are a lot of things to happen before someone gets turfed out. Hard to have sympathy for someone absolutely refusing to pay rent. There are welfare payments, HAP schemes, family supports, rent supplements etc readily available so sure, paying the full rent might be difficult but to pay the sum total of SFA, yes, you're a bum and a fraud. Literally.

Just wondering then do you think it is ok for a landlord to knowingly evict someone who is paying their rent knowing that there is no accommodation elsewhere that they can afford, thus making them homeless - just because it is not the landlords fault that there isn't other property available. Not saying landlords created the problem (that would be FFG) but unfortunately you are part of the solution and until housing is available, the state has a duty to do whatever has to be done to keep a roof over the heads of Irish Citizens.

Impossible to answer.

You'd have to be a heartless p***k to make someone homeless, someone who has been good to you for many years, if it was purely a means to put up your rent. Conversely it's equally heartless to deny someone access to their property if they or theirs are in danger of being homeless. Landlords fall under the category of Irish Citizens too.

End of the day it is the governments problem and they need to sort out social housing. Private rental market should be separate and there needs to be fluidity when it comes to leases and competition in it same as any healthy market.

Maybe you can answer your question with two scenarios.
1. You have a rental property 200 miles away well below market rent. Your daughter/son is starting university beside it in 6 months. Main reason you bought it in first place was with your kids in mind. They have no where else to stay. You happy to have them commuting for hours because someone else doesn't want to move 30 mins?
2. Your daughter/son has kid on the way. You'd like to rent them your spare property. Tenant is a decent person but there's nowhere else available at anything close to what you're charging. They don't want to move into their parent's garage. Do you move yours into your garage even though that's beneath other people. Again the main reason you bought rental in first place was with your kids in mind.

How do you legislate for situations like that or where the landlord is being a completely greedy heartless p***k? Government are totally to blame. One thing that people tend to overlook in homeless situation, and it is maybe one of the biggest factors to the crux of the issue where supply is static, falling occupancy rates increase homelessness. It's been an easy pitch lazy politicians been selling for years, promising more private ownership and running the nasty landlords out of town, all while sitting on their hands or being downright aggressive against new developments. That is always going to push people out on the street.
There needs to be incentives to get occupancy up. Funnily enough one of them is having a mortgage and needing rent and not leaving it idle. Someone else on here disgusted at someone having multiple properties and renting them out but said someone having 2 was a perfectly natural human need (I'm guessing holiday home) and no harm done. That's literally dropping occupancy rate to 50% at best, but probably much much less.

You can only legislate for the majority issue and this is a short term (hopefully) issue. The 2 examples you gave are understandable and if each case could be looked at individually then those would be allowed to evict. But I doubt those are the majority. More likely its big business and vulture funds that want to evict and this is what government is pandering too. FFG dont care about you or your kid in college or the family going onto the street. They care about the money. I totally agree those two parties especially are to blame for the situation the country is in and they are two parties I will never give any sort of a vote to personally.

[marty34]

So do you think there should be any actions available for landlords in cases where tenants don't pay rent? Or just tough sh!t and they should absorb the cost?

Yes there should.

What would it look like? It has to be enough of a deterrent to prevent widespread abuse of the rental system by tenants.

No idea, I don't set policy or have any plans to do so. Just absolutely zero sympathy for someone who buys a second property without affordability to repay the mortgage, then complains when it doesn't go according to plan!

The rent is the affordability. Handy enough to get tenants, if you've some bum refusing to pay rent out to f**k

I understand how some people see that as cold and callous and "throwing families on the side of the road" but that is the failure of government and social housing. People on the waiting list for over 10yrs! It really boils my piss when politicians try to lay that at the door of private individuals. They need to stop sniping and vote fishing and work together to come up with a solution. They literally found housing for thousands of Ukranians at the drop of a hat.

Landlords will generally work with tenants where there is good will and genuine effort. There are a lot of things to happen before someone gets turfed out. Hard to have sympathy for someone absolutely refusing to pay rent. There are welfare payments, HAP schemes, family supports, rent supplements etc readily available so sure, paying the full rent might be difficult but to pay the sum total of SFA, yes, you're a bum and a fraud. Literally.

Just wondering then do you think it is ok for a landlord to knowingly evict someone who is paying their rent knowing that there is no accommodation elsewhere that they can afford, thus making them homeless - just because it is not the landlords fault that there isn't other property available. Not saying landlords created the problem (that would be FFG) but unfortunately you are part of the solution and until housing is available, the state has a duty to do whatever has to be done to keep a roof over the heads of Irish Citizens.

Impossible to answer.

You'd have to be a heartless p***k to make someone homeless, someone who has been good to you for many years, if it was purely a means to put up your rent. Conversely it's equally heartless to deny someone access to their property if they or theirs are in danger of being homeless. Landlords fall under the category of Irish Citizens too.

End of the day it is the governments problem and they need to sort out social housing. Private rental market should be separate and there needs to be fluidity when it comes to leases and competition in it same as any healthy market.

Maybe you can answer your question with two scenarios.
1. You have a rental property 200 miles away well below market rent. Your daughter/son is starting university beside it in 6 months. Main reason you bought it in first place was with your kids in mind. They have no where else to stay. You happy to have them commuting for hours because someone else doesn't want to move 30 mins?
2. Your daughter/son has kid on the way. You'd like to rent them your spare property. Tenant is a decent person but there's nowhere else available at anything close to what you're charging. They don't want to move into their parent's garage. Do you move yours into your garage even though that's beneath other people. Again the main reason you bought rental in first place was with your kids in mind.

How do you legislate for situations like that or where the landlord is being a completely greedy heartless p***k? Government are totally to blame. One thing that people tend to overlook in homeless situation, and it is maybe one of the biggest factors to the crux of the issue where supply is static, falling occupancy rates increase homelessness. It's been an easy pitch lazy politicians been selling for years, promising more private ownership and running the nasty landlords out of town, all while sitting on their hands or being downright aggressive against new developments. That is always going to push people out on the street.
There needs to be incentives to get occupancy up. Funnily enough one of them is having a mortgage and needing rent and not leaving it idle. Someone else on here disgusted at someone having multiple properties and renting them out but said someone having 2 was a perfectly natural human need (I'm guessing holiday home) and no harm done. That's literally dropping occupancy rate to 50% at best, but probably much much less.

You can only legislate for the majority issue and this is a short term (hopefully) issue. The 2 examples you gave are understandable and if each case could be looked at individually then those would be allowed to evict. But I doubt those are the majority. More likely its big business and vulture funds that want to evict and this is what government is pandering too. FFG dont care about you or your kid in college or the family going onto the street. They care about the money. I totally agree those two parties especially are to blame for the situation the country is in and they are two parties I will never give any sort of a vote to personally.

Of course it's their fault.

This housing issie has been going on for 10 years and they've been in total government for all this time and they're just papering over the cracks.

As I said before, they're a housing crisis BUT the current government are not treating it like a crisis e.g. Covid, where everything was thrown at Covid.  This is what a lecturer said on a debate about the housing situation last week on a tv debate.

He's totally right.

This current government doesn't have the will, for whatever reason, to deal with the housing issue.

[Look-Up!]

So do you think there should be any actions available for landlords in cases where tenants don't pay rent? Or just tough sh!t and they should absorb the cost?

Yes there should.

What would it look like? It has to be enough of a deterrent to prevent widespread abuse of the rental system by tenants.

No idea, I don't set policy or have any plans to do so. Just absolutely zero sympathy for someone who buys a second property without affordability to repay the mortgage, then complains when it doesn't go according to plan!

The rent is the affordability. Handy enough to get tenants, if you've some bum refusing to pay rent out to f**k

I understand how some people see that as cold and callous and "throwing families on the side of the road" but that is the failure of government and social housing. People on the waiting list for over 10yrs! It really boils my piss when politicians try to lay that at the door of private individuals. They need to stop sniping and vote fishing and work together to come up with a solution. They literally found housing for thousands of Ukranians at the drop of a hat.

Landlords will generally work with tenants where there is good will and genuine effort. There are a lot of things to happen before someone gets turfed out. Hard to have sympathy for someone absolutely refusing to pay rent. There are welfare payments, HAP schemes, family supports, rent supplements etc readily available so sure, paying the full rent might be difficult but to pay the sum total of SFA, yes, you're a bum and a fraud. Literally.

Just wondering then do you think it is ok for a landlord to knowingly evict someone who is paying their rent knowing that there is no accommodation elsewhere that they can afford, thus making them homeless - just because it is not the landlords fault that there isn't other property available. Not saying landlords created the problem (that would be FFG) but unfortunately you are part of the solution and until housing is available, the state has a duty to do whatever has to be done to keep a roof over the heads of Irish Citizens.

Impossible to answer.

You'd have to be a heartless p***k to make someone homeless, someone who has been good to you for many years, if it was purely a means to put up your rent. Conversely it's equally heartless to deny someone access to their property if they or theirs are in danger of being homeless. Landlords fall under the category of Irish Citizens too.

End of the day it is the governments problem and they need to sort out social housing. Private rental market should be separate and there needs to be fluidity when it comes to leases and competition in it same as any healthy market.

Maybe you can answer your question with two scenarios.
1. You have a rental property 200 miles away well below market rent. Your daughter/son is starting university beside it in 6 months. Main reason you bought it in first place was with your kids in mind. They have no where else to stay. You happy to have them commuting for hours because someone else doesn't want to move 30 mins?
2. Your daughter/son has kid on the way. You'd like to rent them your spare property. Tenant is a decent person but there's nowhere else available at anything close to what you're charging. They don't want to move into their parent's garage. Do you move yours into your garage even though that's beneath other people. Again the main reason you bought rental in first place was with your kids in mind.

How do you legislate for situations like that or where the landlord is being a completely greedy heartless p***k? Government are totally to blame. One thing that people tend to overlook in homeless situation, and it is maybe one of the biggest factors to the crux of the issue where supply is static, falling occupancy rates increase homelessness. It's been an easy pitch lazy politicians been selling for years, promising more private ownership and running the nasty landlords out of town, all while sitting on their hands or being downright aggressive against new developments. That is always going to push people out on the street.
There needs to be incentives to get occupancy up. Funnily enough one of them is having a mortgage and needing rent and not leaving it idle. Someone else on here disgusted at someone having multiple properties and renting them out but said someone having 2 was a perfectly natural human need (I'm guessing holiday home) and no harm done. That's literally dropping occupancy rate to 50% at best, but probably much much less.

You can only legislate for the majority issue and this is a short term (hopefully) issue. The 2 examples you gave are understandable and if each case could be looked at individually then those would be allowed to evict. But I doubt those are the majority. More likely its big business and vulture funds that want to evict and this is what government is pandering too. FFG dont care about you or your kid in college or the family going onto the street. They care about the money. I totally agree those two parties especially are to blame for the situation the country is in and they are two parties I will never give any sort of a vote to personally.

Opposition parties have to take responsibility too, it's on all elected officials. There have been plenty vocal on this issue and quick to jump on populist policy, be it on rental or development side. None of this has improved anything but it does sway government decisions. I've never voted FFG, it's always been SF when I've voted. Starting to think it's a wasted vote. Annoys me when they come out with smart ass BS that the reason we are in today's predicament is that no one has used their ideas. Not even sure if they want to be in government, just happy to snipe from the sidelines hoping to pick up a few more votes and ride the gravy train for what it's worth.
Anyone can end up homeless, from low paid to high tech worker. From non homeowner to landlord. Anyone that is except politicians. That gravy never stops flowing. I'm starting to think they all drink together in the Dail bar after one of their "rows", laughing at the show they put on for the plebs.