‘We have a fundamental misunderstanding of our housing need’

Is our housing policy actually hampering the delivery of homes?

Listen | 42:41
Photograph: Bryan O'Brien / THE IRISH TIMES
Photograph: Bryan O'Brien / THE IRISH TIMES

“We have a fundamental misunderstanding of our housing need,” says Ronan Lyons, economist and author of the latest Daft.ie report. The data shows another quarter of acute housing shortages and record rents on the open market.

Lyons believes the amount of homes needed to address the lack of supply is well above the government’s policy targets, and we’re obsessed with married people who are just about to have kids.

“There’s a whole variety of housing need out there and if we excessively focus on couples who are about to have children, we are painting ourselves into a corner.”

In this episode Economics Correspondent, Eoin Burke Kennedy, also suggests the Build to Rent model may be amended significantly by the government or parked altogether. A move, which Ronan says, could be a recipe for another ten years of rental chaos if there is no Plan B.

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