Sir, – Government policy is skewed towards using the development sector to create more houses.
This is code for generating more revenue for the State from VAT, development levies and other property taxes, getting builders and first-time buyers to fund social housing and using rising property values to repair the banks.
The second-hand market can provide many times more houses than the new homes market. Policy should encourage downsizing.
A proper property tax system would do this, as it does in most other countries.
If the Government were interested in fixing the problem in the long term, this is where it would look.
Such a policy would also free up equity tied up in our national housing stock.
However, I believe the Government is more focused on an election in two years than on actually solving the problem.– Yours, etc,
AIDAN HORA,
Fitzwilliam Street Lower,
Dublin 2.