Government set for yet another housing ‘pivot’

Sir, – The Taoiseach has said that the State will need to “pivot more strongly” to attract private sector investment to address the housing crisis (News, February 10th).

Since the collapse of the Celtic Tiger property bubble, the State has sold off vast portfolios of distressed land and property assets to private investors at knockdown prices through Nama; introduced real estate investment trusts with zero tax payable on rental income; established the now abandoned, disastrous Strategic Housing Development fast-track planning consent system; experimented with lowered build-to-rent apartment standards and “niche” co-living; and most recently waived development contribution levies.

The State has bent over backwards to make the housing market more attractive to private capital. The result has been that prices have increased by over 150 per cent; rents have skyrocketed to completely unsustainable levels; home ownership has declined sharply; homelessness has risen to record highs; property developer’s profits have soared; housing completions have plateaued; and there are over 56,000 uncommenced planning permissions in Dublin alone.

At some point, we might want to consider the possibility that increasing the demand for housing as an investment is very far from being the solution, but the actual source of the problem. After all, isn’t the very definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? – Yours, etc,