New group fight for tenants' rights in Cavan
A new group attempting to strengthen tenants' rights has started a branch in Cavan.
Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) acts as a union for people outside of their workplace. CATU focus on housing and community issues of today including “sky-rocketing rents and house prices, precarious housing, alienation between neighbours, slashed local services, and an erosion of our public spaces”, according to their website.
CATU was founded in Dublin in 2019 by a few dozen tenants, to help share resources and skills to empower themselves and their neighbours facing eviction, homelessness and housing precarity.
“It's a union for the community and for tenants,” Seán Walsh told the Celt. “The only people who can't join are landlords.”
Something the group are focusing on in Cavan at the moment is dereliction, vacant properties and the impact of Airbnb on availability of properties and rents.
“If you're renting for example and you were to get an eviction notice, we would help extend that eviction,” explained Seán.
Meanwhile, if your rented property is experiencing mould or there are accessibility issues in your home, CATU will also lobby on your behalf. The group has been up and running in Cavan for the past month.
“You don't have to be in CATU for us to help you. We are here for the entire community.”
Both Seán and fellow CATU member Saoirse Ní Bhaoidhealláin have been homeless in the past.
Seán details a problem that will be familiar to many - the impact of high rents.
“I work full time and I pay over half my income to my landlord. I'm told I can't afford a mortgage even though I am paying more than what I would pay for a mortgage [in rent].
“For me, I'm always an eviction away from homelessness and I think a lot of people are like that.”
The impact homelessness had on Seán was “mixed at different times”, between being on the streets and sleeping on friends' couches.
Two years ago, he was homeless for three months when he lived in a tent at campsites.
“It's still homelessness,” he observes.