Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Branding the houses as affordable increases the level of hopelessness among young people. They feel the houses are just more out of reach for them. I believe we should rename the Act the Unaffordable Housing Act because unaffordable housing is genuinely what it is delivering.

We need a radical reset of housing policy. The answers to this crisis are not found in the failed policies of the past. We need the State to be more involved in the direct delivery of affordable homes, and we need the Government to start listening to first-time buyers, renters and those in homelessness instead of those with vested interests because, until it does, nothing is going to change.

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