Can we get housing right? Discussing Ireland's Housing Crisis

First Thought Talks 2023: Rory Hearne, Michelle Norris and Hugh Brennan in conversation with Kathy Sheridan
Lack of affordable and social housing remains the country’s biggest crisis, causing homelessness, misery, forced emigration, labour shortages and widespread child poverty.
This panel discusses remedies for the situation, with Rory Hearne, Assistant Professor of Social Policy at Maynooth University and author of Gaffs: Why no one can get a house and what we can do about it; Professor Michelle Norris, Director of the Geary Institute at UCD and an expert on social housing; and Hugh Brennan, CEO of O’Cualann Cohousing Alliance, in conversation with Kathy Sheridan, Irish Times columnist and co-author of The Builders.
First Thought Talks are presented in association with University of Galway.
Watch more talks online: www.giaf.ie/talks/
About GIAF
Galway International Arts Festival is a major cultural organisation, which produces one of Europe’s leading international arts festivals; develops and produces new work that tours nationally and internationally; and presents a major discussion platform, First Thought Talks.
The 2024 Galway International Arts Festival takes place from 15-28 July 2024 and will feature the very best of the performing and visual arts from Ireland and around the world, with an international programme of theatre, dance, circus, exhibitions, spectacle, music, comedy, talks and discussions.
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[@Skyler827]

The problem with housing costs is we have failed to disentangle the two components; the building and the land. We need very different incentives for each component. We should be rewarding building, subsidizing building, but we need to be taxing land.

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

I live in Morocco. You need to see the tens of thousands of new apartment blocks containing 30 apartments each and newly built here. The price is €25.K each. Finance is 5% and easy to get. The kicker... Only citizens can buy one apartment and one apartment only.

[@bardylon]

Build more houses and they’ll just be bought by more wealthy landlords and investment funds. What you need first is the government to put a halt to houses being used as a trading commodity & make sure the only ones buying them are people who need a place to live, not just make money off. Right now in Ireland, someone can purchase 10 houses in a single year before they even see an increase in stamp duty.

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

In fairness, retro fitting and upgrading are not the priority but rather part of the problem by taking the focus off of the key issue.. the building of new, affordable houses.

[@blackdeeplake]

Pathethic

[@biulaimh3097]

The government borrowed 200 billion euro since 2008 in order to stop the house-price market correction. They used that borrowed money to reverse the correction (making house prices less correct) and caused inflation in house prices, which is why houses here are such bad value for what you get for your euro. So government interferrence made houses unaffordable. Houses would be very cheap now if the government had not borrowed that 200 billion. So the 200 billion euro is an approximate figure for how much Irish housing stock is overvalued. Ultimately, our taxes will be needed to service that additional debt. One way to solve the housing crisis (and reduce our debt) is to deflate house prices by taxing house owners heavily but exempting first time buyers and new builds. This is because first time buyers who do not yet own the properties that have been deliberately inflated are expected to both pay the inflated price to buy a house AND pay interest payments through general taxation to service the 200 billion euro in borrowings it cost to inflate house prices in the first place. By exempting new builds from the extreme property taxes we need to undo the damage caused chiefly by Enda Kenny`s government following the FF made crisis in `08, those existing property owners would get a get out of jail card if they opted to sell their existing property and buy a new one instead. This would make existing houses affordable and also spur a building boom. Obviously, young people should not be priced out of existing housing stock because FG/FF rigged the market. Note however, SF would make this disaster even worse. The so called "far right" are the only voice of reason I am hearing.

[@thatsthejobbb8587]

Housing shouldn't be taxed. Period. "It is morally corrupt and unjust to tax a person's home" - Enda Kenny, the hypocrite golden pension collector himself!

[@Phoeagdor]

Great writing, you should be blogging. Few can articulate to this level, most who do, do with agenda or to remain popular through text, audio or video. Seriously write, something like substack is free and there's a sector primed, small but already reading there. I write very outside the box, perspecting my own interests. Anytime I write and include the local soup, readership spikes. I'm not fully informed just annoyed like many of my fellows. People are hungry for honesty and knowledge. So do consider - click, write, and publish. Thanks for your comment...... inform on👍 you comment on others and link up, ta get a foot in the door, and lo and behold, you have a following. We mentor on.

[@user-yw6tm6cw1s]

You will never build enough houses when you have an open door immigration policy

[@daithicarr]

I'm not sure if that argument holds up to much scrutiny. Immigrants provide vital skills in places like health care and our companies. Immigrants can provide the skill shortage we need to get out of this issue. Without Immigrants our health care would collapse and multinationals would leave if they can't find the skills they need.

[@pmurpy061]

Population increase due to unsustainable immigration

[@bikeman9899]

No. Even without immigration, there would still be a problem. Immigration is a red herring. The problem is 100% home grown. You won't solve a problem by placing the blame incorrectly.