Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Social Democrats and the Green Party for bringing this motion forward. I will be supporting it.

Our housing crisis is obviously getting worse in view of the fact that rents are increasing, as is the number of people in emergency accommodation. The over-reliance on the private sector to solve the problem is a mistake. State intervention is urgently required and the Government has to rise out of its ideological commitment to allowing market forces to solve this problem. The State and society has to supply housing in the future. Until now, there has been a general political consensus in many continental European countries that society should be responsible for housing supply and that housing is a basic need which should not be subject to free market forces. Society should ensure that a sufficient number of dwellings are available.

A young teacher, a garda or a nurse should have a reasonable expectation of being able to acquire good, decent quality accommodation at affordable prices but, unlike their parents, fewer and fewer of these people are able to afford houses. A cultural change has overcome Ireland. As a result, ownership is going to have to be replaced by an affordable rental model. We have to be open to new ideas and a different model of doing things. The European cost rental public housing model is not new. It is widely successful across many European cities. It is new to us, however, and we have to embrace that change. Our tradition of adherence to private sector and social housing has to have a third component to it, and that is cost rental housing. We need to change.

Explaining how this can be done will take a great deal of work. I would like to hear some further information about how the model will work. Who will build the rental accommodation? From here will the money for it come? Most importantly, how will it benefit people in search of a home, apart from the lower costs involved? We have to have a culturally inclusive form of housing that is community oriented and includes developments which are attractive to live in and properties which can be rented at affordable prices.

This is an urban solution to our housing crisis. In the context of scale, it will not solve the problem for smaller towns and cities that require housing. It is an urban solution and it should be embraced.

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