The launch this morning by the Nevin Institute of a detailed proposal for public, cost-rental housing development has led to calls for Dublin City Council to reverse its plans to allow private housing development on its biggest sites of empty land.
Speaking in reaction to the launch this morning (Thursday 23rd March) by the Nevin Economic Research Institute of its Working Paper Ireland’s Housing Emergency – Time for a Game Changer Cllr. Éilis Ryan (Workers’ Party, Dublin) said:
The Nevin Institute’s policy offers thorough and irrefutable evidence that only a public cost-rental sector can tackle the housing crisis we still find ourselves in. It demonstrates that borrowing and investing in building cost-rental housing is both feasible and a good financial plan for the state.
Cllr. Ryan went on to highlight the disparity between the evidence-based proposals from the Nevin Institute, and the policy favoured by Dublin City Councillors of securing private developers to build private housing on council-owned land.
Inexplicably, Dublin City Councillors have decided the only option to develop council-owned land in places like O’Devaney Gardens and St. Michael’s Estate is through the private sector. These plans will lead to minimal social housing, while generating major profits for private developers.
The Nevin Institute proposals call into question the wisdom of that approach, and set out a detailed, feasible alternative, which increases the amount of social housing delivered while reducing the cost to the state.
She concluded:
I am calling on my fellow city councillors to reverse their plans to privatise council-owned land, and undertake a full investigation of the feasibility of the Nevin Institute’s proposal.
Notes for editor
The Nevin Institute document launched this morning can be found at the following link: http://www.nerinstitute.net/research/irelands-housing-emergency-time-for-a-game-changer/
The Workers’ Party’s public housing policy Solidarity Housing is among the sources cited by the Nevin Institute.
Dublin City Councillors had previously agreed to implement a public cost rental scheme based on Solidarity Housing in O’Devaney Gardens but this decision was overturned.