Exorbitant rents. Overcrowding. Tens of thousands struggling to survive, while handing over huge sums of money to wealthy landlords. Families living in constant fear of eviction. People doing their very best yet being only a couple of steps away from becoming homeless.
The housing disaster in Ireland has become a catastrophe. It has uprooted families from their homes; torn people from their communities, neighbours and support networks; and separated children from their friends, their sports clubs and schools. When an eviction notice lands, hard-won progress that children with learning difficulties have made, with the support of teachers and SNAs, can be undone. Relationships come under increased pressure, while parents do their level best to shield their children from the trauma of losing their home.
The complete failure by both Government and private investors, to provide a sufficient amount of housing to buy and rent at prices that people on average incomes can afford, is undermining the social fabric. Yet the narrative of government and business interests is that if we can just dismantle or at least liberalise the planning system, then private developers can get on with building homes and the housing crisis will be solved.
This narrative is flawed on several fronts.
The interaction of the public planning system, which regulates land use, with private investment is hugely problematic. It produces scarcity of land which results in the market and private developers not meeting demand. Liberal commentators such as the Economist advocate for much more land to be zoned for housing as the solution. But this ignores the zoning dilemma faced by Government and local authorities. Zone too little land and development land becomes more scarce, new housing supply is constrained and prices are driven up. Zone too much land and the State doesn’t know where to prioritise the provision of infrastructure. Without infrastructure new housing cannot be provided.
In many respects we have an infrastructure crisis just as much as a housing crisis. A failure to invest in water, waste water treatment, and transport and community infrastructure is the biggest impediment to delivering the number of new homes we need each year. The solution must be a much greater role for the State in managing land and infrastructure delivery. Leaving land management for housing in the hands of private developers and speculators, while having the State bear responsibility for the delivery of infrastructure, has been a disaster.
This result has been ad hoc approach to the delivery of new housing sites. With the best will in the world, this public-private mix will not lead to a streamlined delivery of sites at affordable prices for new housing. On the contrary, the current laissez-faire approach has led to rampant land speculation by encouraging owners to sit on prime housing sites while prices rise. It has created frustration and costs for builders who want to provide new homes but are left waiting years for supporting infrastructure to come on stream. And it has left tens of thousands of people living in box rooms or homeless emergency accommodation due to an insufficient supply.
A more active role for the State
A much better approach would be for the State to take an active approach to land management. There are very good examples of this in 20th century Ireland.
The land for Marino, the State’s first affordable purchase housing scheme, was acquired through both voluntary agreements and Compulsory Purchase Orders. Designed as a garden city, the provision of plenty of communal green space was in sharp contrast to the high density slum housing that was prevalent at the time.
The completion of the northern Dublin sewage system in the 1950s was accompanied by the acquisition of 240 hectares of land through Compulsory Purchase Order by Dublin Corporation. This resulted in thousands of social homes being built in Edenmore, Artane and Coolock as well as significant affordable purchase and co-operative housing delivery.
There are also good examples from across Europe of how to actively manage land. Land management ensures that not only are homes available at much more affordable prices, but also that key community infrastructure - including parks, playgrounds, schools and transport infrastructure - are built alongside or even before new housing is delivered.
Across the Netherlands, Germany and France, the state has been proactive in assembling land for development. Serviced land with infrastructure is assembled by municipalities and made available for housing at affordable rates alongside key infrastructure. In the Netherlands and Germany, local authorities are actively involved in trading in the land market and in supplying land that is ready for development.
In Vienna there is an affordable housing zoning designation. This means that lands can be designated as only suitable for housing that is affordable. The monthly rent for a new-build affordable two-bed apartment in Vienna comes in at 650 euro per month. This is in stark contrast to much more expensive rents in Dublin, including for affordable rental apartments.
A failure to actively manage land creates delays, risks and financing costs. This ultimately results in less available housing and higher prices.
Alleviating the social cost
Besides higher rents and purchase prices, the housing catastrophe also delivers a very considerable social cost. Even when large quantities of homes are constructed, the absence of sufficient community infrastructure has very real impacts for the families who make these areas their new home. It can take decades of campaigning by residents for the community spaces, schools, sports facilities, youth services and transport infrastructure needed to support a new community to be put in place.
The social cost in terms of mental health, addiction and crime are considerable. Frustratingly, many of the social problems that emerge could be avoided if proper community infrastructure were delivered at the start as part of a State-led active management of the land.
Leaving the delivery of land for housing primarily in the hands of private developers and speculators is not working. It is failing to deliver the scale of housing that people can afford. It is also failing to deliver much needed community infrastructure to support new housing.
Local authorities already have strong Compulsory Purchase Order powers that can be used to acquire and assemble land. What they lack is the financing and direction from Government to do this. Both are needed to solve the Irish housing catastrophe.
Cian O’Callaghan has been a TD for Dublin Bay North since 2020 and Deputy Leader of the Social Democrats since 2023, having previously served as a Fingal County councillor. A lifelong political activist, he served as acting party leader during Holly Cairns’s maternity leave. He is the Social Democrats' finance spokesperson.