Housing: A national or local crisis?

Housing for All was applauded and welcomed by stakeholders as a response to a nation’s housing crisis, but is it really a crisis for all or only those that need housing and those specifically tasked with responding to that need? John Hannigan, CEO of Circle Voluntary Housing Association.

Maybe if we are all asking the same question, maybe, just maybe we can shift through opinion and get to the nub of the issue. So many people suggest that we have a crisis and yet we have so many new homes, for sale, for affordable and social housing, that are being voted against; land not being rezoned to enable the building of new homes and planning permissions lying idle, it is obviously not a national crisis for everyone.

How many appeals or observations are open within An Board Pleanála at this present time? While this is not the question being posed to you, a brief look at the website confirms a large number, a snapshot yes, but each of those appeals or observations is a block on an attempt to build or supply housing in this country, why? Not a simple answer, that much can be conceded, but if the country is facing a national crisis why are so many solutions and their progression being blocked?

Is it a national crisis? There is that question again. To answer a question with a question first, does every area need social and affordable housing? If not then it is not a national crisis, it is a local one; it is my back yard, my community and my crisis, my problem, not a national one. If I come from an affluent area, do I need social or affordable housing in that area to remain in the community I was raised in, or would it be preferable to move further afield so as not to taint that area with my need for housing? Surely my need, my community, should support my need for housing or is that my crisis, my problem and not the community’s, therefore not the nation’s?

I take a walk around my county, my area and I see land everywhere, I see a lot of housing, surely some social and affordable housing too and I acknowledge that each of those is a home to someone who needed it; for that family, their housing crisis was resolved. What about the areas not so affluent? Do these have a need for more social and affordable housing? If there is already a bank of social and affordable housing in this area will the community still want to live in that community, close to family and friends? If there is land available, should we not build on it or can there be too much social and affordable housing? This is something that I am hearing more and more, “there is already too much (particularly) social housing in that area, we do not need more”. Can this really be the case?

So many questions which beg opinion and reach into the heart of the crisis we are in, but the one question I leave you with is the one I started with, is this a crisis for those who need a home and those tasked to respond or is it a crisis for this nation which needs a unified response?

“If this is considered to be a national crisis, and I believe it is, should we not create an all-party process that finds a way of addressing the issues causing the crisis. Unfortunately, it is a complex issue, there is no one solution and the potential solutions have many other unforeseen consequences, but should that stop us at least trying?” John Hannigan, CEO Circle Voluntary Housing Association

In my role as CEO for a large Approved Housing Body, I am tasked with providing homes for those in housing need. Circle Voluntary Housing Association has been doing that since 2003. Now, more than ever, I am hearing the “too much social” phrase being used to stop development. Concerns about too many unemployed people in one area, not enough diversity of housing and not enough housing for first-time buyers. The truth is that there will never be too much housing in Ireland. We have an underutilisation of land right across our country, maybe not in Dublin but in nearly every other part of our land. Until we see supply increased by at least double, consistently for the next 10 years, we cannot have too many homes being built, for social, affordable, or first-time buyers.

If this is considered to be a national crisis, and I believe it is, should we not create an all-party process that finds a way of addressing the issues causing the crisis. Unfortunately, it is a complex issue, there is no one solution and the potential solutions have many other unforeseen consequences, but should that stop us at least trying?

It will take five to 10 years for us to work our way out of our current predicament, this is not good enough for the mother, father and their children living in the one room in the bed and breakfast allocated by the relevant local authority (where they may have been for five years already), or the individual person trying to exit rough sleeping and homelessness, or the Garda or nurse or trainee doctor or teacher (all of whom earn less than the highest threshold for social housing) who want to live in their own community or just find a house to call their home.

My call is for all those involved in finding solutions for the national and local housing crisis, to come together and to work to shorten this time in the name of the citizens of Ireland. Put aside party, ideological differences and work to change how we approach this very serious human disaster that we are in.

T: 01 4072110
E: developmentteam@circlevha.ie
W: www.circlevha.ie