Sir, – Cities will implode if they cannot house those who provide the services for the city to function. People cannot afford to pay 75 per cent of their income in housing costs, either to buy or rent.
Let’s take the stigma of words like “social” and “council” housing out of it. We are talking about publicly owned housing to be built and rented out at reasonable rates to people who make our cities function. One of the benefits of course is that the less spent on rent, the more will be spent in the economy. The market has failed to replicate what the public sector achieved so well by building up a huge stock of publicly owned residential property to let out to our city workers.
There simply has to be an about-face. Funding, as Dr Michelle Norris states (October 23rd), has to be long term, and this time when we build publicly owned housing units, we need cast-iron guarantees that there will be no sell-off of properties at discounted prices. Can it be done? Of course it can. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN QUINN,
Enniscrone,
Co Sligo.
Sir, – Michelle Norris is absolutely correct when she raises the vital issue of funding for social housing. The abolition of domestic rates was a purely political act, a stroke that no government or party has seriously attempted to fix.
However, it is worth noting that the strongest opposition to the modern equivalent of rates – the local property tax and water charges (for those connected to mains water and sewerage) comes from supposedly leftist parties. Indeed Dublin City Council recently voted to reduce the local property tax despite the current homelessness crisis!
The capital gains exemption for principal private residences should be ended so those who have already gained most from house price inflation also contribute – ie Ireland’s baby boomers, many of whom are now retired with their defined-benefit pensions.
Additionally, those fortunate enough to afford second homes in Ireland should pay the full cost of all local services provision. – Yours, etc,
MATTHEW GLOVER,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.