Ireland’s rental crisis has seemingly reached peak levels, with the latest “trend” of landlords offering free rent in exchange for sexual favours.
The Irish Times report that last week alone, there were 10 “sex for rent” ads posted on online sites Craigslist and Locanto.
As the average monthly rent in south Dublin is a huge €1,868, these ads target vulnerable people – mostly women – who are desperate for a place to call home.
The majority of ads posted were by men offering women free rental accommodation in exchange for sex, although one man was looking for “younger males” to share his bedsit.
Most of the ads are usually cryptically written, only hinting that sex will be required to avail of the free rent, but anyone clued in can see straight through the hidden messages.
One 30-year-old man living in a Dublin suburb is looking for a female for a “two-week trial period”, with “longer availability possible.” In return for a free stay, he is looking for her to massage him.
Another man posted that he is charging €450 a month for the spare room in his home, but has hopes to find a a willing woman “who likes to wear leather and latex around the apartment.”
Yet another male in his mid-30’s put an ad out for free “spare room and full use of house for any young ladies who can look after owner once or twice a week.”
He also requested all applicants send photos.
Ruth Breslin of Ruhama, a Dublin-based NGO working to protect women from prostitution and sex trafficking, says she is concerned about this rental trend and that it puts women at great risk.
“We would always very broadly define prostitution or sexual exploitation,” Breslin said. “Very often it might not actually be money that is exchanged, but anything of value. So, for some women, that might be drugs. In these cases it’s for a roof over their head.”
“It’s an example, as far as we’re concerned, of sexual exploitation.”
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