Professor Stephen Kinsella:

I could not possibly comment on how qualified the Members of the Oireachtas are to build housing but I can answer the previous question about providing help for property owners. One can accomplish a lot with very targeted supports. For example, we know that in lots of rented accommodation the insulation standards are much lower. If there was a very targeted insulation programme for property owners, and particularly one targeted at landlords, then the State could spend money upgrading properties that would be much more energy efficient, better for tenants and better for the property owners who rent out their properties. What I have descried is a landlord support that is politically totally uncontentious. Nobody will kick off about if one simply designs a policy that upgrades a property that will really help tenants, or if one extends a property or one is happy to take on students. I am the head of a department in the University of Limerick and literally every day I talk with students who cannot find places to live. We are halfway through the term and there are still students who cannot find a place to live so this subject is at the top of my mind all of the time.

There are things like large-scale student accommodation. Right now if one talked to property developers they will say that it does not pay them to build these things. It does not pay the universities to build these things. There is nothing beyond the width of a sensible well-educated society to come up with a solution where we can house thousands of students near universities, stop them commuting from all over the place, improve their quality of life and take away the pressure that they would impose on the rest of the rental market. The University of Limerick has the largest amount of student accommodation in the country. We have got 16% whereas most universities are as low as 10%. Even if my university increased accommodation to 25% then, first, the economics of it currently do not stack up and, second, the lead times are simply too long to help this generation of students.

To answer the original question, there are targeted supports that I would like to see as they would upgrade properties and thus help tenants. In so doing the supports would also help the property owners who rent out their properties. It is just a matter of designing and framing the policy in the right way. I do not mean in a sale-like way but designed to help both sides at the same time. It is not necessarily a tax break, which is the simplest and easiest thing to do. It is more like if one does this and provide some societal good then there is a benefit to the property owner, to his or her property, to long-term equity values and so forth.