Families and housing precarity in ‘post-crisis’ Ireland

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, Ireland’s housing system is undergoing a dramatic transformation, marked by declining homeownership and the rapid growth of an increasingly precarious private rental sector. Additionally, the rental sector has emerged as an important new asset class for foreign and domestic investors. The result has been a considerable rise in families entering the private rental sector, a rapid inflation of rental values and new crises in housing affordability and accessibility. This chapter seeks to investigate the social and economic impacts arising from these transformations and the nature of the shifting burdens being experienced by mortgaged and renting families over the course of the Irish crash. Drawing on national datasets, the chapter examines the extent of housing precarity among families in post-crash Ireland and the social, financial and health-related consequences. In doing so, the chapter contributes to understanding of the experiences of housing financialization and commodification for families in ‘post-crisis’ settings.