Minister rows back on ‘trendy’ co-living comments
‘Communal, social aspect to living’
‘Minister is living on another planet’
THE Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy has come under fire after he compared life in a co-living space to checking in to a boutique hotel. Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast yesterday, Mr Murphy said the buildings, which would have single bedrooms, with a shared kitchen and living space, would be aimed at graduates or young professionals.
One previous plan for a coliving space in Co. Dublin had proposals for one kitchen to be used by 40 adults.
During the interview, Mr Murphy said: ‘It’s something I’d seen abroad in other cities, where you have your own private room, en-suite, but you also have shared community spaces, a gym, a movie room, a games room potentially, a kitchen, a living room.’
To which the presenter replied: ‘Like prison?’
‘No, not at all, it’s more like a very trendy, kind of, boutique hotel-type place,’ Mr Murphy added.
He said: ‘I can see people coming here to Ireland who can’t sign a 12-month lease because they’re not going to be here for 12 months maybe, who don’t want to share a place with three strangers, and who want to have a bit of privacy, but also a bit of that communal or social aspect to living.
‘They’ll do that for six or 12 months, until they’re six or 12 months into their first job, and then go with two or colleagues from work and say, “let’s rent a house”.’
Having previously said that young workers should find co-living an ‘exciting’ prospect, Mr Murphy’s latest comments have drawn considerable criticism from political rivals.
People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett, in whose Dún Laoghaire constituency planning permission for co-living spaces were rejected, said Mr Murphy does not understand the housing crisis. ‘What we are talking about are 200 tiny box rooms with foldout beds,’ he said. ‘For Eoghan Murphy to claim these are “trendy” or suitable in any way for people who are in dire need of decent affordable accommodation is simply shocking.
‘These comments show that the minister for housing is living on another planet and simply does not understand the housing crisis.
‘For the minister to make these remarks is really quite appalling in that the comment seems to indicate that he and the Government are content that hotel-type arrangements are satisfactory for permanent living.
‘It seems this Government are standing with the speculators and the developers rather than the huge number of people who are finding it impossible to put an affordable roof over their head.’
Fianna Fáil’s housing spokesman Darragh O’Brien said: ‘Minister Eoghan Murphy is so unbelievably out of touch he now believes his own PR spin,’ he said.
‘Co-living cannot be the highpoint of the State’s ambitions in housing. Under Fine Gael, the delivery of basic housing services has failed miserably,’ he said.
Likewise, Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane said co-living was not the answer.
‘There is nothing “trendy” about co-living. It’s not cool. It’s not the future. It’s not the solution,’ he said.
In a tweeted response yesterday following criticism of Mr Murphy wrote: ‘I was asked this morning were co-living spaces like prisons and based on what I have seen in other cities they are not.
‘My analogy in response wasn’t a good one. But co-living elicits outrage in some because they wrongly assume it’s what we propose as a response to families in crisis. It’s not.
‘Our response to the housing crisis is to build over 20,000 new homes – houses and apartments – this year. None of them co-living spaces. Our response next year is to build even more new homes.
‘Homes are the answer for the vast vast majority. Co-living is targeted at approximately 1% of renters,’ the minister wrote.
Ireland is currently suffering the worst housing crisis in the history of the state, with over 10,250 homeless in May 2019.
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