Mark FitzGerald's proposal to pay Dublin residents to move to the country will not solve the capital's housing shortage, writes Ken MacDonald. The failure to implement a fast-track pro-development planning strategy is slowing down supply and pushing up the cost of housing for aspiring home-buyers.

The achievement of home-ownership is one of the highest priorities on the agenda of most people in Ireland today.

Finding a solution to the shortage and cost of housing in Dublin has exercised the minds of many people, ranging from Government Ministers to economists and auctioneers.

Economist Mr Peter Bacon, author of a report on the housing market, believed that pushing investors out of the market would do the trick but the ensuing shortage of rental accommodation forced rents to double in three years so the measures were abandoned.

Auctioneer Mr Mark FitzGerald has suggested that the Government should give relocation grants to people to entice them to move out of Dublin.

This could result in the freeing- up of many family-type homes if it was availed of by people whose families are already reared.

Well-intentioned as this proposal is, it is flawed in the sense that it fails to take account of the needs of retirees and steers clear of the fundamental stumbling blocks causing the supply shortage in the capital.

People whose families are reared and heading into retirement need to downsize their accommodation and move to a home environment offering convenience, accessibility and lifestyle.

They need to stay relatively close to family and friends, convenient to public transport, medical services, shops, churches and leisure facilities. Their move should not disrupt their established social life, club memberships and other links built up over a long period.

The answer is not to be relocated in the country, causing people to change their living patterns, lose contact with friends and see less of their family and grandchildren, but to acquire a suitable home, such as an apartment, as close as possible to where they are moving from.

Apartment living offers convenience, lifestyle, security and ease of management.

It is rapidly becoming the most popular choice of accommodation in Ireland. It enables people to release equity from their family home, providing funds for the enjoyment of their retiring years.

The shortage in the supply of new homes has been caused by a misguided approach to densities and height over recent decades and by a cumbersome planning system.

The new Government policy encouraging higher densities is gradually helping to increase supply but the failure to move quickly towards tall buildings in certain urban locations, including the Docklands, is wasting our most valuable resource, the land.

There will be a heavy price to pay for this when the population of Dublin increases by 50 per cent over the next 30 years.

Likewise, the failure to implement a fast-track pro-development planning strategy is slowing down supply and pushing up the cost of housing for aspiring home-buyers.

It is still taking up to two years to get a major residential planning application through the system and very often schemes fall at the final fence when Bord Pleanála issues a refusal.

Consequently, last year there were only 13,000 new homes built in Dublin, compared with an actual demand for 23,000.

The solution to the high cost of housing in Dublin is crystal clear. No need to move people out of Dublin, just remove the impediments to a vibrant free-flowing marketplace.

Let supply meet demand and prices will moderate thereafter.

Ken MacDonald is managing director of Hooke & MacDonald