Builders need to display more of a social conscience in the role they play, argues developer Mick Wallace.
Even as a relatively small builder I am financially strong because the housing market has been good to me. I have done well out of the current Government because of its emphasis on supporting business.
But the less well off in Irish society are not doing so well out of this very same Government. And when it comes to housing, a basic human right, the less well off are faring very badly indeed. This is ironic when one considers the primary reason for government is to protect the weak from the strong. In reality, in contemporary Ireland, the opposite seems closer to the truth.
Since 2002, we have constructed more than 400,000 new houses in Ireland. In that same time, social housing has accounted for a lowly 27,752 units - under 7 per cent of all housing. This leaves 43,684 households still waiting for a place to call home, and more than 5,000 people homeless. In today's Ireland, there are still at least 35,954 children in desperate need of proper housing.
This is a pathetic record which has dire effects on people's lives. Unmet housing needs make people sick, interrupt their education, lessen their chance of securing a good job and put huge strain on individuals and families, especially on children.
It is well known that bad housing can wreck people's lives. It can lead to physical and mental health strains for everyone. What is the point, for example, in building a house for a family where the bedrooms are too small to fit in a desk for children to do their homework? This type of spatial planning will only lead to lost opportunities for the child, and parental frustration.
In 2006 - 10 years into our high economic growth - we are at a crossroads in housebuilding and development. We can continue to build houses for the insatiable development of the economy or we can start to build houses for the development of a better society. If we want to create homes and communities and not just isolated developments of bricks and mortar and potential problems, the latter sounds like the only road to take.
The first step in the development of a community-based society has to be significantly increased investment in quality social and affordable housing. The Economic and Social Research Institute recently recommended that capital investment in social housing should be reduced in the next National Development Plan. I disagree.
If, as it argues, the economy is vulnerable to a slowdown in residential construction, what better way to continue to support residential construction output and to ensure stability in the construction sector than to increase capital investment for the benefit of those who really need it - young people and families who can't afford today's starting price of more than €300,000 for a new home.
Second, cash handovers to local authorities by developers in lieu of building social or affordable housing as part of their Part V (of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2004) obligation has to be stopped, except perhaps in very exceptional cases.
When Part V was introduced, I thought it was a brilliant innovation - a breath of fresh air and a sure way of ensuring that social and affordable housing was provided throughout the country. It also offered an opportunity to get away from ghettoisation in development whereby different strata in society live in different and distinct areas.
My optimism was short-lived. It wasn't long before the Government caved in to pressure from developers and builders and allowed those with money to buy their way out of a critical societal obligation.
This brings me to my third recommendation - for the development of homes as opposed to just housing: builder obligation.
All builders, including myself, are going to have to take more responsibility for the type of environment we are shaping. We have to start taking more pride in our work and become more conscious of the huge influence we have on societal development. Thankfully, we have great potential to have a very positive effect on how Ireland develops; no doubt there are builders already doing their best to be good citizens.
We can become more innovative by building for people's daily needs and by building homes that make people want to stay rather than just see them as a temporary measure.
We may have to look at building smaller, smarter houses and bigger apartments, for example, so that we don't continue to build out from cities and towns, adding to traffic headaches faced by thousands already.
If we are building apartments, we can make them more suitable for families. We need to raise the ceiling heights so they are not oppressive places. We need to ensure that bedrooms are more than just extended hot presses. We need to try to incorporate storage space.
We need to ensure that there are play areas for children. At the moment, we are obsessed with planting spaces around developments. But what good are shrubs for children who want to play football? We also need to ensure that there is a healthy mix of communities in new developments. Ghettoisation and class divide do not have an attractive history: where exclusion reigns, even if it is paid for legally, equality simply does not exist.
When construction and social development work in tandem, the results can be spectacular. Look at the regeneration of Ballymun. It has revolutionised a community. But the Ballymuns of the development world don't have to be the exception - they should be the expected.
The Government and the construction industry need to work together to ensure homes and communities are created rather than continuing to simply fill spaces with houses.
But leadership in such a partnership has to come from government. At the end of the day, construction companies are in the business of making money - that's what they do, like it or not.
I don't think, however, it is too much to expect a more ethical stance from our Government so that the housing needs of the less well off are prioritised ahead of the financial needs of those who least need their help.
Mick Wallace of Wallace Construction will speak at the Focus Ireland conference, Building Houses or Creating Homes? at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, tomorrow. This is part of a two-day event, the Festival of Home, which will address the challenge of providing homes rather than just houses