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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025

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For social housing in Ireland, two siblings of opposite sex can share room until age ten. Two siblings of same sex, no specific age limit. Where overcrowding (and thus can apply for social housing under needs) happens is if you have to have two siblings of opposite sex room-sharing past age ten or occupancy past the square footage limits.

63.—A house shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be overcrowded at any time when the number of persons ordinarily sleeping in the house and the number of rooms therein either—

(a) are such that any two of those persons, being persons of ten years of age or more of opposite sexes and not being persons living together as husband and wife, must sleep in the same room, or

(b) are such that the free air space in any room used as a sleeping apartment, for any person is less than four hundred cubic feet (the height of the room, if it exceeds eight feet, being taken to be eight feet, for the purpose of calculating free air space),

and “overcrowding” shall be construed accordingly.

It's been ten years since I worked in the social housing department of our local council, but yeah: we used to smile when single mothers would make applications for "I need a three bedroom house because I have two kids and they need a room each". Not gonna happen, lady, if your kids are under the age of ten.

Link

The US's IPMC (International Property Maintenance Code) incorporates an equivalent of ¶ b, but not of ¶ a.

Every habitable room shall contain not less than 70 square feet, and every bedroom occupied by more than one person shall contain not less than 50 square feet of floor area for each occupant thereof.