Ireland’s housing crisis is so grave that employers are getting into the landlord business and buying property for their staff

With Ireland’s housing crisis showing few signs of abating, businesses are increasingly having to step in with staffing accommodation, including by buying or renting real estate.

It’s impacting firms of all stripes, although the services industry appears particularly afflicted.

Ireland has among the highest housing costs in the EU and services roles are typically not as well paid as those in the country’s out-sized multinational sector.

Ryanair Holdings Plc confirmed it had bought 25 houses for staff earlier this year following a Business Post report, while luxury hotel group Killarney Hotels Collection also advertises subsidized housing for prospective employees.

Ireland’s chronic housing deficit can largely be pinned on one thing: in the decade following the 2008 crash that decimated the country, building stalled.

Since then, the problem has been compounded by planning constraints, supply bottlenecks, a rapidly growing population, and an economy nearing capacity.

Food wholesaler Musgrave, which employs over 40,000 people, making it Ireland’s largest private sector employer according to its website, has approximately 50 properties available for staff. It owns less than 10 of those, people familiar said.

Meanwhile, care home group Windmill Healthcare rents 28 properties to provide housing for some of its workers, of which there are more than 550.

The number of properties it rents is only increasing, the group’s marketing manager Louise O’Sullivan told Bloomberg News.

Fast food chain Supermacs spent as much as €7 million ($7.5 million) purchasing staff housing, state broadcaster RTE reported in May.

A subsidiary of Atlantic Aviation Group in Shannon, Ireland, has 36 en-suite bedrooms for employees, according to an Irish Independent report from February.

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