Sir, – Lorcan Sirr in his article of December 28th states that just one in three new built homes is available for sale despite 400,000 renters wishing to become homeowners (“Coalitions of the centre lack what it takes to fix housing crisis”, Opinion & Analysis, December 28th).
He highlights what is likely to be the next stage of our housing crisis which is the chronic shortage of private sector housing supply of any kind, either rental or for purchase.
The Government has been spending big to increase the public housing supply and results are starting to appear with a possible 12,000 social and affordable completions in 2023.
However, finance for the private housing sector, historically supplying up to 80 per cent of our needs, is quickly drying up as corporate investors flee the market due to spiralling interest rates and the three local pillar banks shy away from lending at scale to home builders. Also, building apartments with lifts, managed space and expensive engineering is no longer profitable for developers and therefore not fundable or affordable for purchasers other than the most affluent in society.
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Finally, traditional terrace housing, while viable in peripheral locations, is not a sustainable solution as the densities are too low to house our growing population.
An affordable solution to private supply could lie in a new typology of housing, namely three- or four-storey, medium-density, walk-up apartments being promoted by the RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland). This form of housing delivers three times the density of terrace housing, can be built affordably using domestic construction methods, is fundable for small contractors as it can be sold in phases and is acceptable to local communities because of its sympathetic scale when located in existing suburban settings and town locations.
New thinking is needed to solve our complicated housing crisis, as government subsidy of housing supply only solves part of the problem. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’MAHONY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.