2FM star Laura Fox has told of her despair that she will never be able to afford a house in Dublin.
The Galway broadcaster is pleading with the Government to help millennials who are being priced out of owning
a home by vulture funds buying up the city.
The stunning brunette has landed her own show at the national broadcaster and said her generation are saving like crazy – but will never afford a home of their own.
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Laura, 31, told the Irish Sunday Mirror : “This is the first time in almost a decade where I’m earning a steady wage and not going from job to job.
“It’s the first time I can even think about a mortgage but there will be nowhere for me to buy.
“Myself and my partner Brian are looking at houses that should be €270K but are going for €340K or more.”
She said saving is the only thing she can control in the messed up housing crisis.
She added: “I think about it all the time, I can’t control the cost of heating or the price of houses.
“The only thing I can control in my life is how much I’m saving and what my narrative will be.
“But I’m not there in my life yet. It sounds really stupid but I can’t get bogged down every single day with something that’s out of my reach.”
Commenting on how tough it has been for her generation she said: “It’s not like we’re asking for something for nothing, we are all saving like mad, but still won’t be able to afford to buy a house.
“The vulture funds are buying everything up, even if we save €40,000, there’s nobody in the Government saying, ‘Cool, well done, we’ll help you’.
“We need help.
“I can be vocal about the fact I think it’s obscene to blame the fact our generation can’t afford houses because they’ve been eating avocados and travelling.”
The renting market is equally as traumatic, Laura believes.
“Myself and my partner Brian and our housemate were looking to rent last year, our budget was on the higher end.
“When I say we viewed 40 or 50 places, the sh*** we were shown was disgusting.
“One place we walked into had eight bunk beds in a two bed house. You couldn’t move.
“It was so unsafe, the rest of the landlords were trying to flog us one bed settees as a two bed house.
“When I asked the viewing agent if they had any homes with more room, she told me to move into a higher wage bracket, saying ‘then you’ll be able to afford better.’ She warned us that the rent would go up by 4% a year.”
Moving outside the capital to buy is being touted by some as a way out of the crisis, which Laura says is an unfair solution.
“I hate the fact we’re being told to move outside of Dublin, this is the first time in my life I’m able to have dinners out in Dublin and I want to enjoy this time,” she said.
“It’s mad what landlords can demand – three months of bank statements and a massive deposit.
“We came from a Celtic Tiger era and headed straight into a recession, it’s bonkers.”
Laura is so grateful she landed her own gig and is not taking anything for granted.
She said: “I’m not worried about the precarious nature of radio. I’m very much enjoying it. But also it’s very surreal and hard to imagine that I finally have my own show.
“I’m smiling now even thinking of it, saying it’s my own show and it’s on primetime weekends.
“In saying that, this is something I would have been really hoping for years back, but I’m really ready now.”
She said of turning 30: “I think even though it was in the middle of the pandemic, I don’t know what it was but a new superpower came with it and I actually loved it. Reaching this age was a milestone.
“I just went ‘you’ve got to stop stressing, things will work out’.”
Laura hasn’t witnessed much hate or trolling on social media since joining 2FM.
“I’m so lucky. On the rare occasion I get hate I don’t let it bother me,” she revealed.
“I could let it take up my whole week, but you have to know that not everybody is going to like you and the minute you realise that you are happier.”
Laura previously opened up about her body dysmorphia, where she binged and threw up or restricted her eating to control her weight.
Now she wishes she could talk to her younger self about living life to the fullest.
She explained: “I’d tell that girl just to have fun, you’ll look back in five years and say why did I waste so much time not being happy,.
“It’s such a vulnerable position to be in, I would implore anyone to get help if they are in this mindset.”
She disclosed how she overcame her issues.
“It was a control of a switch thing in my head that had to change, I had a great support network around me.
“Bodywhys are great, you can find them on Instagram.”
Stress can trigger old habits, she added.
“I feel I’m really good at knowing when it’s creeping back in.
“When I have a lot going on and I haven’t slept, the control thing comes back in again and I try to control my food again.
“It never completely goes away but I’ve learnt to be able to talk to myself and to remind myself if things aren’t OK.
“I need to watch that it’s not coming back in.”
Laura’s motto is to seize the moment.
Her nana’s words of wisdom resonate with her and she added: “My granny always says, the time is going to pass anyway, so we better enjoy it.”
- Laura Fox is on air on RTE 2FM Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 11am.
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