{"id":46833,"date":"2025-09-06T06:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T06:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/46833\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T06:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T06:55:09","slug":"at-this-age-unless-i-won-the-lotto-how-would-i-afford-anything-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/46833\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018At this age, unless I won the Lotto, how would I afford anything?\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michelle Bennett (54) finds it difficult to even talk about her situation as a middle-aged renter<\/a>, because it has caused her \u201chuge distress\u201d, she says. \u201cIt has lost me lots of years of my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

As Ireland remains firmly in the grip of a housing and rent crisis<\/a>, recent figures from Daft.ie<\/a> indicating that average asking rents are now twice what they were at the peak of the Celtic Tiger<\/a> period won\u2019t have provided any sense of hope to young adults still sleeping in their childhood bedrooms, unable to move out of their family homes.<\/p>\n

But neither will it have given any encouragement to those like Bennett, who, in middle age and not through choice, find themselves locked out of home-ownership, coping with rising rents and an uncertain future. Such people are often overlooked in this conversation, left dealing with their own significant worries and, as some explain, a very different stigma.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has taken a toll on my health,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cI have tried lots of avenues to secure something and I\u2019d say I\u2019ve spent the guts of seven or eight years trying to find a way out of my situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett is a divorced mother of three. She works part-time and has, she says, a low income. She was a home-owner, but following her divorce she and her children had to find somewhere else to live. She lives on Dublin\u2019s southside and has been on the housing list for 10 years, she says. Her situation is further complicated by the fact her name is still attached to her former home, which is in a negative equity position.<\/p>\n

Trying \u201cto stay housed, or look for housing\u201d, has been \u201ctorturous\u201d, Bennett says. \u201cI worry about it every other day. I worry about whether I\u2019m going to be told I need to leave this house.\u201d She worries about money and making her payments. \u201cMoney can be tight,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She is concerned about the future. Having had a parent develop dementia in their late 50s, she\u2019s terrified about what would happen if she found herself in a similar situation. \u201cI know the energy and determination it takes to get places in a renting world, and it\u2019s no joyride. From the minute I became homeless it has been a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a renter, Bennett says \u201cyou\u2019re vulnerable, because you\u2019re at the mercy of the owner \u2026 It\u2019s scary, because you can be just given three months\u2019 notice. And the ordeal of trying to find a property… To find the one I\u2019m in took me three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichelleMichelle Bennett (54) finds it difficult to even talk about her situation. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

She worries about how she\u2019ll afford to continue renting into the future. \u201cI don\u2019t really have any pension, or anything like that. I can\u2019t afford to have health cover\u2026 It\u2019s humiliating a lot of the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted that I have a roof over my head, but I\u2019m always saying that I won\u2019t do anything to this place, because how long will I be here for?\u201d The constant worry has \u201chijacked\u201d Bennett\u2019s brain, she says, \u201ctrying to figure a way out\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Generation rent: Here\u2019s how \u2018forever renters\u2019 in Ireland can look to secure their financial futuresOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Bennett says she never imagined herself renting \u201cat this stage\u201d of her life. \u201cNot having the security of something long-term is soul-destroying\u2026 At this age, unless I won the Lotto, how would I afford anything?\u201d<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t believe enough is being done to support middle-aged renters. \u201cI think we\u2019re a forgotten minority, to be honest. Because people think you should have your sh*t together.\u201d It can bring a sense of embarrassment, she says. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a shameful situation, because you say, how did you let that happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the 2022 census, 36 was the ageat which more than half of householders owned their home, with or without a mortgage or loan. The age marking the changeover from renting to home-ownership has been increasing over time. In 2002, it was 27.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sarah Breslin (55), in Co Kildare, describes the situation for middle-aged renters as \u201ca ticking time bomb\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a house and a mortgage\u2026 In 2008, we were in the process of actually selling the house. We went from the property being valued at over \u20ac700,000 to… having to sell for \u20ac260,000.\u201d Breslin said she managed to clear her mortgage, but was left with little else.<\/p>\n

\"SarahSarah Breslin at home in Co Kildare.
\nPhotograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Both Breslin, who is a colonic therapist, and her husband were self-employed at the time. And, with her husband working in banking as the economic crash hit, the two found themselves feeling the pressure. \u201cWe struggled on for a couple of years,\u201d she explains, before they decided to move to Spain, where they rented. Following the death of Breslin\u2019s mother in 2014, the couple returned to Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been renting ever since,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen we moved back\u2026 my husband was in his mid-50s and I was in my 40s, so we weren\u2019t ever going to be candidates for a mortgage without a massive deposit… Now my husband is 65 and I\u2019m 55, so there\u2019s just no options.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless I win the Lotto, or a big lump of cash comes my way out of the blue, there\u2019s no way I could see that we could own a house. And you\u2019re reluctant to put yourself on the housing list, because we personally think, \u2018We\u2019re okay. We can manage\u2019. We have options at the minute, so you don\u2019t want to be taking a house from a family or somebody who\u2019s in a worse situation. But literally there\u2019s no plan for us. We really don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to pan out. It\u2019s basically work as long as you can and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The uncertainty is unnerving, she admits. \u201cThere\u2019s also the fact that we have to pray to God that the landlord\u2026 doesn\u2019t end up having to make arrangements to sell this house.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been really blessed that the rent has been kept at a reasonable rate, but if we were going into the marketplace now, there\u2019s absolutely no way we could pay those rents. No way.\u201d<\/p>\n

She \u201cabsolutely [did] not\u201d expect to find herself in this position at their age. \u201cYou just have to make peace with it in a way, because otherwise you would be getting very stressed.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland\u2019s rising rents: \u2018Our budget would have been \u20ac1,300 a month, there isn\u2019t even anything listed for that\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus now is just making sure that our daughter has options going forward. Mostly it\u2019s saving for college\u2026 making sure there\u2019s money when the time comes. It\u2019s not like you have any assets to hand on to her, so you have to make the most of what you can do in the meantime.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven for ourselves. If it came to it that one of us needed to go into a nursing home, there\u2019s no Fair Deal [care arrangement] to be done, because there\u2019s no house.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people in this scenario. It\u2019s just invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruno Batista (45), originally from Portugal, has been living in Ireland for almost 19 years. <\/p>\n

Growing up in Portugal, renting was a normal part of life, he explains. \u201cWhen I moved here in late 2006, one of my first conversations, in a pub, was someone asking me \u2018When are you buying a house?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, I thought that was stupid. I\u2019m not going to the bank and getting a loan. Now I\u2019m thinking maybe I should have. I\u2019d be owing a bit of money, but I\u2019d have my house now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people he knows who can buy a house \u201care normally either getting money from their parents, or living with their parents for a number of years until they can get enough money for deposits\u201d. With his family back in Portugal, that has never been an option. \u201cI never was able to save money because I was always paying full rent. And the banks are not taking into consideration\u2026 that I\u2019ve paid thousands and thousands of euros through the years. It\u2019s not a thing I can show to the bank and say \u2018Look. I\u2019m good for whatever\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrunoBruno Batista at his home in Co Sligo. Photograph: James Connolly <\/p>\n

He finds the preference for houses over apartments in Ireland unusual. \u201cDriving around Dublin, and it\u2019s all estates. And that\u2019s such wasted space. I think people in Ireland have such a bad idea about apartment buildings because of Ballymun. That was a big emphasis of a lot of my conversations, especially in earlier days, with people [saying] \u2018No. The Ballymun apartments. They\u2019re awful\u2019. And it\u2019s a thing that we need, in this country, to be able to put people up. It\u2019s ridiculous that there\u2019s not a big emphasis on building estates of apartment blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batista has moved to Sligo in recent months with his partner. Things are no better there in terms of rent options, he explains. He doesn\u2019t see any hope that he and his partner will ever be able to buy a house. \u201cUnless there\u2019s a EuroMillions somewhere. Or someone dies out of nowhere and leaves us a lot of money, which is not going to happen. I\u2019ve resigned myself to the fact that I\u2019ll never be able to buy a house unless a miracle happens. I don\u2019t even want a house. All I want is a little plot where I can put one of those pre-built houses for two people \u2013 I\u2019d be happy with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m 45, but I\u2019m in the same situation as a 20-year-old who\u2019s renting. If something happens tomorrow and the owners decide to sell, I\u2019ll have to find a place. And if there\u2019s nowhere to go to, I\u2019ll be relying on friends\u2019 charity and somewhere to sleep for a couple of weeks. There\u2019s no safety net for anyone, be they young or old. There is the idea that only the young ones are in this. They\u2019re only the ones suffering. [But] everyone is suffering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a 45-year-old person who has been working my entire life. I should not be in such a situation. I\u2019m not saying there\u2019s some sort of God-given right for me to have a house, but the market is bananas. It\u2019s impossible to find anything anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abigail* is 50 and renting. It\u2019s a source of deep shame for her. She lives in a rented house with her husband and children in south Dublin. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe always rented,\u201d she says. \u201cTrying to save for a deposit, while we\u2019re renting, has been virtually impossible. We have a deposit saved now, but the house prices\u2026 are just unattainable for us.<\/p>\n

\n

You shouldn\u2019t be looking at your parents thinking \u2018When you die, I\u2019ll be able to buy a house\u2019. I shouldn\u2019t be thinking like that<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Abigail, renter<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve moved loads. As the family grew bigger, we moved. We weren\u2019t eligible for social housing. We both earned too much, but we didn\u2019t earn enough to buy a house,\u201d she continues. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t dare tell the mothers in the school that I rent, or anything like that. I\u2019d find it so hard.\u201d She worries she\u2019d be judged if they knew. \u201c[I\u2019d feel] they\u2019re looking at me as if I\u2019m different. Even though we\u2019re probably paying twice what their mortgage is in rent, I still feel I have to hide it constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abigail is from the area she lives in and doesn\u2019t want to move to another part of Dublin or a different county, as her children are settled in school. She lives in fear of being asked to leave her rental property, however. \u201cIt has happened. We\u2019ve had to move. We were in a house for 10 years and we got six months\u2019 notice [to leave]. And when I say it devastated our kids, it devastated them. Because they didn\u2019t know we were renting.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explains the sense of shame that comes from feeling like she \u201cnever achieved\u2026 We never got that house that we wanted. Or any house. My family have all succeeded. I\u2019m still catching up with them. I feel like I never fit in, because I haven\u2019t got that house.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0An answer to Ireland\u2019s housing crisis is right behind usOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Because of the relative affluence of the area, Abigail feels the \u201cperfect\u201d house, garden and car is \u201cconstantly flashed in our face. You haven\u2019t got it. You haven\u2019t made it. We just constantly feel like we\u2019ve failed our kids. Even though we haven\u2019t, we feel we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not being able to afford your own home \u201cis an awful stigma\u201d, she says. She\u2019s heard family members, without thinking, criticise their own neighbours by describing them as \u201cbloody renters\u201d. \u201cIs that what people think of renters? That we\u2019re just party-goers who leave the house in complete disarray?\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s experienced similar attitudes herself where she feels neighbours \u201cjust look at us as if we\u2019re scumbags or something\u201d. She finds herself worrying about what would become of her children if something was to happen to her and her husband. \u201cBecause I don\u2019t have security,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n

Abigail admits that part of her \u201cis waiting for an inheritance\u2026 That\u2019s awful. You shouldn\u2019t be looking at your parents thinking \u2018When you die, I\u2019ll be able to buy a house\u2019. I shouldn\u2019t be thinking like that. I\u2019m angry then at society, and I\u2019m angry at the Government for making me feel like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"ProfProf Cathal McCrory of Tilda says the increasing age of renters is storing up massive challenges for the future <\/p>\n

Prof Cathal McCrory, co-principal investigator of Tilda, the Irish longitudinal study on ageing, understands the stigma and shame some middle-aged people may feel about renting. \u201cWhat you have is relative to their peers\u2019, or even… parents\u2019 generation,\u201d he says. But he believes these feelings are misplaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we seem to have done is shift that shame onto an individual,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was an expectation in the past that if you had a job, if you saved, if you worked, that home-ownership would not be out of your reach… That\u2019s not a personal failing. That\u2019s a structural failing. That\u2019s a systemic failing. That\u2019s a political failing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He understands why people may not want to move from the areas where they\u2019re living. \u201cThere is a distinction between a house and a home. A house is four walls and a roof over your head. A home is somewhere you belong. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you need [is] for people to feel that they live in a home as opposed to a house, is you need to be integrated into the community… you need amenities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of people have grown up in areas that they\u2019re attached to because they\u2019re integrated within their community… The Government are very interested in initiatives for people to age in place. And this is the idea, as people get older, to ensure we design communities through both the built infrastructure, but also the social infrastructure, for people to live in communities and keep them out of care homes and keep them out of hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of fragmenting all of those social relationships, bonds that they have built, sense of belonging in the community \u2013 I think that\u2019s what\u2019s being eroded when people have to move.\u201d <\/p>\n

The increasing age of renters is storing up massive challenges for the future, he says. In the past \u201cat least when you reached retirement age, you had security of tenure. What we\u2019re going to have into the future is… proportions of individuals who don\u2019t own their own homes; who are going to be reliant on either State provision into the future, or there are probably going to be more frequent moves between tenancies. That\u2019s my fear, and I\u2019m not sure the State is equipped for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an economic cost,\u201d he adds pointing to the State needing to provide more housing or financial assistance, as, \u201cWhen people retire, they don\u2019t necessarily have the income.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a problem in the future, but individuals shouldn\u2019t be living it as their problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Name has been changed<\/p>\n

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