Radical housing policy rethink urged
by Bernard Harbor
 
‘Raise the Roof’ coordinator Macdara Doyle said unions were building support for a radical change in housing policy.
‘Raise the Roof’ coordinator Macdara Doyle said unions were building support for a radical change in housing policy.

The Government must reverse three decades of failed policy that abandoned social housing to the market, according to an expert on housing policy. Speaking at the latest union-backed ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign event in Kildare earlier this week, Dr Rory Hearne of Maynooth University criticised the continued focus on promoting private housing rather than funding local authorities to provide homes.

 

He also called for public land to be used for social and affordable housing, and said a State construction and retrofit company was needed.

 

“The crisis will continue to spiral out of control unless we see a transformative change in housing policy and treat housing as a human right, holding a referendum and putting the right to housing as a guiding framework for our housing system in the constitution,” said Dr Hearne.

 

His comments came as new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) identified a marked drop in home ownership levels, particularly among younger households. Its report warned that, as a result, more people would be stuck in the rental sector after retirement.

 

The ‘Raise the Roof’ meeting was part of a nationwide programme featuring housing experts, trade unions, political parties, and people affected by the crisis.

 

Kelly Anne Byrne told participants that she’d lived in foster care and became pregnant and homeless at sixteen. She said there were over 3,000 children without the security of a home.

 

“Since I have a permanent home my children and I have thrived. All children deserve a safe place they can call home and I am here to stand up and fight for them,” she said.

 

‘Raise the Roof’ coordinator Macdara Doyle said unions were building support for a radical change in housing policy. “A core part of that change is the urgent need to place affordability at the heart of housing policy and to make it the key, overarching goal, as opposed to a simple focus on the number of new homes,” he said.

 

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