Simples. Anyone who is a member of a union, and preferably the ASTI.
Housing for key workers
- Thread starter Purple
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Both sectors private and public are interdependent and agree key staff in both sectors may need support. For example if there is no one in a classroom to teach 30 children then the parents of those children will be unable to work effectively. The pandemic has shown clearly that lots of jobs can be done successfully remotely but others can't and it is these workers that may need support. Britain has been providing subsidised housing for key workers for decades. It would probably be a starting point to study how they have done so and what criteria they have used.
This is a really important point. Employees should not be dependent on their job/employer to directly supply or support their housing, healthcare, education, etc. Being tied like that distorts the employee/employer relationship. Look at healthcare in the US, a "perk" of the job that disappears when your contract expires, a disaster. It also lets local and national governments off the hook for failing to ensure adequate affordable housing.
That again... we impoverished generations of Irish people by spending almost nothing on health or education... but we built houses.
We had very basic welfare for everyone other then pensioners... but we built houses.
Going back to the housing policies of the 1940's would be monumentally stupid. It's one of those tropes that is trotted out and left unchallenged by the media but it would be a disastrous think to do. And we didn't provide housing for everyone; the 60,000 people who left the country every year didn't have a house.
RichInSpirit
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Don't forget the farmers!
Essential workers to keep the teachers and other essential workers fed.
Essential workers to keep the teachers and other essential workers fed.
But building solid housing at that time removed people from inner city slums where mortality and particularly infant mortality was incredibly high. This measure obviously improved people's health and allowed them to access education. A fundamental mistake was made in selling off these houses to tenants rather than keeping them as social housing stock. Now we have a situation where vulture funds build often sub standard housing and the state subsidies the exorbitant rents on these properties in the form of RAS and other schemes. These funds pay little tax on their profits while the state pays the maintenance. None of these properties are affordable for key workers to rent and there is very little available for potential first time buyers.
That process started before independence, though it massively ramped up afterwards. People like Lady Aberdeen, wife of the Viceroy, were instrumental in the improvements in health, particularly women's health in Dublin. We've chosen to whitewash people like her out of our history because they were British and Protestant.
They certainly didn't improve their access to education.
Yep, we should have evicted tenants who didn't pay their rent or damaged the State's property but instead we bottled it and walked away from the problem by selling off the houses. It was a total failure of Socialism as an economic model.
Really? What propertied? What Vulture Funds?
From what I see it was Irish builders who did that during the Boom because of a failure by State employees to do their job.
Should we go back to the State building small houses with no insulation, no central heating, no inside toilets, so social infrastructure and no public transport links in vast quantities in isolated areas than turn into slums?
Yes, State intervention in the demand side of the market is almost always a bad idea.
Really? Is that true?
I agree, it's the downside of an incredibly successful economy. Thankfully we are doing better than most and, almost uniquely amongst rich countries, our levels of inequality have reduced over the last 20 years. It's not just key workers though, it's nurses and teachers and people like that too.
Just read this morning that Dublin City Council purchased 500 apartments from Kennedy Wilson in Dublin 8 but they are now unable to rent these properties out due to fire safety defects. Due diligence should have been done before purchase for sure
Never suggested that. Only mentioned good quality housing estates such as Marino, Cabra etc.
Yea who needs nurses and teachers!
Agree our economy is doing well but we are back to the problem of housing in our cities for people whose work is essential to keep the city functioning.
Have you been in many of the houses in Carba?
Every country needs them, along with people who do dozens of other jobs.
When jobs are categorised as essential and non-essential I think those involved in the provision of water, energy and food are the most essential. You may think otherwise but we can do without teachers for 2-3 months each summer. I don't think we'd manage for that length of time without food, water and power.
I agree. It's a problem all across the developed world since we started printing money to bail ourselves out after the 2008 crash. We are managing it better than most.
Yes, believe it or not my job involved visiting those same houses for several years. They are well constructed and have stood the test of time. Hence they are very much in demand when listed for sale.
Agree of course re water and food being priority services but I'm not sure our economy would continue to boom if our education system begins to fail because of a lack of teachers. It's generally cited as one of the reasons why so many multinationals locate themselves here. The availability of a well educated workforce! The tax breaks help too.
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Location and aa general shortage of housing due to our population increasing so quickly is what makes them in high demand.
Excellent.
I agree, but it would take years. Our economy would suffer more if we didn't have food, water or power.
It is indeed, mainly because MNC's can't just say that they are here for the tax breaks... but they are here for the tax breaks. If our workforce was that skilled then those MNC's would be writing the code and developing the tablets here instead of mainly doing advertising, admin and production. It's very important that we don't believe our own propaganda. Nobody ever got better at their job by only looking at the things they were good at.
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I think we have the highest percentage of 3rd level grads in Europe so our population is pretty well educated which according to the IDA helps to attract business from overseas. Those pesky teachers must be doing something right despite all their holidays!
They bought 39 apartments from that source not 500 - and that source didn't built them - they were built by some property developers from Cavan (Greenleaf group)
The fund bought those particular units cheap and felt happy to take the risk on Irish quality standards. The people who really should have been doing deep inspections were the council and cluid who've now bought 270 of those units.
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Fire safety defects detected in up to 500 Dublin apartments
Inadequate fire prevention measures throughout social and private apartments on former Fatima Mansions estate in Dublin
Well they are hardly going to say it's all about the tax breaks now are they?
They are doing something right. We have quite good teachers. They are very bad at teaching foreign languages but they are good at English and alright at maths.
Yep, the State isn't good at regulation and enforcement.