What’s the silver bullet to the housing crisis?

Green Finers

Here’s what I would propose.

I would happily accept rental caps on private rentals IF, the tax on rental income was reduced or abolished in addition to the eviction of rogue tenants being more expeditious. That way, the tenant wins with low rent, the landlord wins with security of assets / income and the state wins with less homeless due to less landlord leaving the market.

Make high quality, high density housing in the cities, for example in Dublin between the canals there should be a minimum height of 100 metres.

Abolish (or defund) whatever you want to call it An Bord Pleanala and the Georgian Society. Reject all objections to builds unless they have a potential serious impact.

Build high quality and frequent high speed public transport out to satellite towns.

CrookedJack

So you want the government to collect less tax and spend more money? How does that work?

Who is going to build all these new high rise buildings in the city? Do you think there are loads of builders just sitting round waiting for a really exciting job? Are the rest of the country supposed to all move to Dublin too?

Who decides what a "Serious impact" is, and so allow those objections? Wouldn't that just be An Bord Pleanala by another name?

These are all silly childish solutions to a very complex issue. Anyone who tells you there's an easy fix for a housing crisis is trying to sell you something.

This isn't a silver bullet for anything apart from you paying income tax like the rest of us.

Flinty997

Move to where there is affordable housing/rentals.

Caranica

There is no silver bullet, successive governments have tried. The problem is too many lobby groups on every side of the problem.

Q&A

How radical are we allowed go??

The main problem isn't:

greedy landlords,

rental policy that impinges property owners rights

Governments that have under invested/sold of social housing stock for decades

Building standards that result in prices above what most can afford

A supply of new property that is difficult to fund and slow to react to rising demand

Restrictive lending rules

...

While the above (and more) have all contributed the main problem is people... Solution is let's have less of them!

jo187

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118619309#Comment_118619309

Where are these? That also offer employment? Not everyone can work from home.

Markcheese

The main solution is more availability as well as reducing cost of providing houses ,

But it's getting there that's the problem ,

If a developer can make a profit building 150k euro houses he'll build , if he's struggling ( or just unsure) to make money on a 3 or 4 hundred thousand euro house , then they're going to hang back -

So there's demand - and prices seem high ,there is land availability,but construction isnt keeping pace -

Personally I think we need a bigger state funded housing scheme -

Cal4567

The silver bullet is probably the State stepping in as a mainstream buyer of materials. It can then acquire in bulk. It has the land on which to develop across all areas of the State sector. It has already started to put out feelers to international construction firms to come here.

People aren't going to like it, but we have to have increased urbanisation to link up services and make them sustainable. Another large town in the middle of the country as well.

Apprentices have to be trained alongside bringing in workers from other countries. That means turning around the logic that Sean, and Mary, have to go to university to get a degree.

Sorry. There's more than one idea there. In reality, we need a few silver bullets.

I'm sure someone will come along and explain why my silver bullets are contrary to EU procurement law. My answer would be to tell Brussels to feck off. This is more important than peeing off the French or the Germans.

It's not entirely impossible but we do need so radical steps.

We aren't that bad in coming up with solutions, but we are piss poor from enacting and delivering on them.

Wildly Boaring

Supply.

But the main thing slowing supply right now is labour.

I'm involved in a sizeable development that should have started in January.

New aim is April.

We lost too many experienced managers and foreman from 2008 till 2018. Not only emigration but to other careers. State backed 20 year type funding is only way I see this improving. Boom to bust is being talked about today on sites. Managerment and trades are still leaving to other careers.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118619515#Comment_118619515

Governments that have under invested/sold of social housing stock for decades

Main problem and solution.

Government needs to revive the council build programme.

Councils and local authorities should not be competing for private builds. They should be building their own.

For everyone giving out about free homes (generally don't actually exist), it's their lack which is driving up demand.

Other issues are adding, cost of development and available of materials etc but supply of purpose built social housing is the demand driver.

enricoh

As long as we keep handing out houses to those who won't do a days work we will have a housing crisis. Working is optional these days n more n more people are putting their hands up for a freebie.

I read the other day the hospitality industry is looking for 60k workers from abroad. I know people on here will say they should pay more but the same people will complain when the prices go up. They can't compete with the dole n hap n nixers.

Every second fella on sites around here is a nordie, he'll only get £70 a week on the dole up north so hasn't the option of not working.

Green Finers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118619256#Comment_118619256

They might be collecting less tax but it may be balanced by the burden on housing being reduced. I’m thinking of this working frictionlessly in a vacuum (which it probably wouldn’t).

Green Finers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118619256#Comment_118619256

High rise would be built privately (if there’s an appetite to do so) with incentives to do so similar to how MNCs were encouraged here in the late 90’s early 00’s.

At the very least there should be a MINIMUM height in certain districts.

Green Finers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118619256#Comment_118619256

And I never said Dublin. Reread my post. I said “the cities, for example Dublin”.

Green Finers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118619583#Comment_118619583

I wonder is the work down south being declared to the jobs and benefits centre?

Cal4567

Here’s a good example of how we just don’t get it right. The government have just introduced a Town Centre policy. A great idea and a move in the right direction. They are going to fund each local authority to have the one officer to drive this.

They need teams in each council, not just one person. Also, look at the UK and the rest of Europe. These initiatives are driven by well-funded municipal authorities, not by central government. It’s embarrassing about how useless we really are.

There was a similar well publicised approach 4/5 years back with the employment of officers in each council to target empty properties. Roll on 4 years and we have the Sunday Business Post reporting,

The establishment of full-time local authority roles for tackling vacancy in Ireland could be delayed even further after the original timeframe was missed.

Following publication of the Department of Housing’s progress report into the government’s Housing for All plan last week, it was revealed that 21 of the 65 targets to be completed by the end of 2021 had not been met, including the provision to have full-time vacancy officers in place across 31 local authorities.

It subsequently emerged that only three councils had full-time positions in place, with the Department setting a revised target date of June 31 for the remaining local authorities to move this role to a full-time position amid ongoing concern around the issue of vacancy across the country.

The Department confirmed to the Business Post that local authorities must only initiate the process of this transition by that date with no guarantee full-time positions would be in place by then.

A spokesman for the Department said it had asked each local authority to notify it when this process is complete in line with the target date, but that it would keep progress under review, including until the end of June.

The Department declined to say whether these roles would be full-time by that date.

Green Finers

Why can’t we just pay social welfare to Irish citizens only (or foreign citizens who have paid sufficient stamps) ? There’s nothing in EU law prohibiting this. I’m very pro EU fwiw.

I’d love to see the move towards a common EU social security number too to make sure claimants don’t have wealth amassed elsewhere or are claiming in more than one jurisdiction. An EU wide fingerprint database could tackle this too.

Gusser09

State housing for middle class workers is the answer. That wint happen though.

L1011

I do not believe this thread was opened in good faith and later posts by the OP do nothing to change my mind.

Closing. Do not attempt to recreate this thread.