Low paid workers should be prioritised for social housing

[Early Riser]

Tbh, I don't know what Early Risers views are on a lot of issues, so I wouldn't know if s/he nearly agrees with me on nearly everything.

I agree with this.

 

[The Horseman]

Rent caps have done the same thing. This is about broad public policy, it will negatively impact on some landlords but basically it's a case of tough luck; the greater good has to be served and it's not some breach of a basic human right. It will also lead to fewer casual landlords who are really just investors looking for someone to cover their mortgage until they can flip their property.

So you are happy for the investor to take the "hit" and just "suck it up". The same investor who has tried to plan for the future so they are not a burden on the state.

Public policy is to house people who can't afford to do so. This is the State's responsibility. But sure hey lets just go out to the magic money tree and pick another few euro's off it because lets give it to those who want everything without working for it.

 

[Delboy]

Meanwhile, out on the street

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2017/0925/907271-social-housing/

The seventy nine new social housing units unveiled in Dublin today will be ready to move into within weeks...
...
There are 34 families still living in the original flats who will move into their new homes by the end of October.

They have been waiting for the regeneration project that has taken nearly 20 years to come to fruition facing delays caused by detenanting, funding and planning as well as the economic downturn.

Top location. Roughly 5 minutes walk to Ranelagh or Stephen's Green

 

[TheBigShort]

Top location. Roughly 5 minutes walk to Ranelagh or Stephen's Green

This is good news.

 

[Firefly]

Meanwhile, out on the street

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2017/0925/907271-social-housing/

Top location. Roughly 5 minutes walk to Ranelagh or Stephen's Green

Whilst it is welcome news for those on a waiting list, I would be very surprised if there was a rush by private house buyers to buy in a development where over half the units (79+15+58) are likely to be social units. The cynic in me says that the council will end up buying the lot and paying way more than it should for them had it contracted the build from the start. Having said that though it is a positive development.

 

[TheBigShort]

I would be very surprised if there was a rush by private house buyers to buy in a development where over half the units (79+15+58) are likely to be social units.

Why would you think that? Why would anybody refuse an opportunity to buy where there are social units?

 

[Purple]

So you are happy for the investor to take the "hit" and just "suck it up". The same investor who has tried to plan for the future so they are not a burden on the state.

Public policy is to house people who can't afford to do so. This is the State's responsibility. But sure hey lets just go out to the magic money tree and pick another few euro's off it because lets give it to those who want everything without working for it.

This would mainly effect private tenants who are paying their own rent. Social Housing tenants already have lifetime tenancies.

 

[Delboy]

Why would you think that? Why would anybody refuse an opportunity to buy where there are social units?

I think you can work that one out or are you just being facetious

 

[TheBigShort]

I think you can work that one out or are you just being facetious

The only thing I can think of is pure snobbery. But please don't tell me we have a housing crisis on the basis of pure snobbery?

 

[TheBigShort]

You rarely ever hear advocates for families where the one/both parents have to commute hours every day with the kids in bed before they leave and if lucky, they grab 30 mins with them in the evenings.

But what about workers who have to move many miles from their families and take on large mortgages/high rents and then have the long commute...how do they survive without the close support networks? Do they even matter?

 

[Delboy]

The only thing I can think of is pure snobbery. But please don't tell me we have a housing crisis on the basis of pure snobbery?

Nothing to do with snobbery in the majority of cases. But I suspect you know that

 

[TheBigShort]

Nothing to do with snobbery in the majority of cases. But I suspect you know that

So if has nothing to do with snobbery, and I'm glad you corrected me on that, what has it got to do with?
Why would there not be a rush of private house buyers in the middle of a housing crisis, to purchase units in the city centre at 'affordable' rates?
I take into account the working families you identified who have had to move far away.

My guess is that these units will be snapped up.

 

[Delboy]

Well, the Irish Times didn't like your your suggestion one bit, Brendan. Really surprised by that
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/...-kenny-s-nation-a-chilling-scenario-1.3220902

If your not careful, the only station that will have you on will be Newstalk!

Alice Leahy (Homeless campaigner) on Newstalk with Pat Kenny now. She has just said that Brendan was very brave to say what he did on that TV show and she felt it was a very balanced programme that cut through a lot of the PC garbage around this subject. She was gushing about you!

She has said a lot of things on the show this morning that will upset the more Liberals amongst us:
- non nationals are getting precedence in a lot of cases despite not being long in the country. 1 EU national who had just arrived was given an apt in Sth Co Dub recently and this nearly caused WW3 amongst others on the housing list who became aware of it
- people are deliberately making things look worse than they are i.e. sleeping in cars and contacting 'sympathetic journalists' who then give them coverage in the national media
- Local Authorities are responding to this media coverage by dealing quickly with those people ahead of everyone else to get the story shut down
- A lot of people are getting accommodation that shouldn't be let near a social house as they are incapable of living in open society (without a host of supports) due to addiction issues amongst other problems. They are causing massive disruption in housing estates/apt blocks and making life hell for ordinary citizens

The piece on the show started with a Mother who has just had her 5th child and has spent the past 8 years on the housing list. She wants accommodation in Dublin near her mother. I didn't get the start of the show but I think 1 of the kids has health issues also.
A lot of texters were asking why someone would continue to have kids when they were in effect homeless. And that living close to your family was not an option for a lot of Irish people who had to move to find work.

I found it a very candid piece on the homeless/accommodation issue in Ireland. Not something you hear very much in whats normally a very 1 sided debate.

 

[Firefly]

The piece on the show started with a Mother who has just had her 5th child and has spent the past 8 years on the housing list. She wants accommodation in Dublin near her mother. I didn't get the start of the show but I think 1 of the kids has health issues also.
A lot of texters were asking why someone would continue to have kids when they were in effect homeless.

Was thinking the same thing myself!

 

[Brendan Burgess]

She has just said that Brendan was very brave to say what he did on that TV show and she felt it was a very balanced programme that cut through a lot of the PC garbage around this subject. She was gushing about you!

Hi Delboy

Thanks for pointing that out. I must listen back to it.

I have been very surprised at the number of people who have contacted me to say how much they agree with what I said and welcome the fact that someone is prepared to say it in public.

But it's great to hear a homeless campaigner saying it. She will probably be described as "Thatcherite" or "like Enoch Powell" for daring to challenge the conventional view on the topic.

Brendan

 

[TheBigShort]

Thanks for pointing that out. I must listen back to it.

I wouldn't get too excited Brendan. The contributor commended how balanced the TV program. That you were brave to say what you said, in the context that it is not PC.
I took from it that she is of the view that in order to find sustainable solutions to housing, everyone needs to be heard. She fell someway of endorsing what you said.
When the issue of 'disrupters' came up she was asked where do you put them live? She didn't answer other than to say they needed more supports and seemed to imply not to move them.
A texter suggested sending them to Roscommon with the Syrian refugees. What the good people of Roscommon have done to deserve 'disrupters' I don't know?
"To Hell or Connacht"? as Kenny referred.

 

[Firefly]

I have been very surprised at the number of people who have contacted me to say how much they agree with what I said and welcome the fact that someone is prepared to say it in public.

It came up in my work place and everyone was saying you were right too. I think it's one of those things that people are nearly afraid to say/admit publicly but believe in strongly all the same. That's why I think Leo is hitting the nail on the head saying he wants to support those who get up early in the morning. He's not saying explicitly who he is referring to but we all know!

 

[Early Riser]

Alice Leahy (Homeless campaigner) on Newstalk with Pat Kenny now. She has just said that Brendan was very brave to say what he did on that TV show and she felt it was a very balanced programme that cut through a lot of the PC garbage around this subject. She was gushing about you!

I wouldn't get too excited Brendan. The contributor commended how balanced the TV program. That you were brave to say what you said, in the context that it is not PC.

I haven't heard the program yet so it is good to get these two (somewhat disparate) accounts. I must say, though, that I find Alice Leahy to be the most consistently creditable spokesperson on homelessness in our media.

 

[ClubMan]

I found Alice Leahy's message to be quite confusing.
She started off by saying that the interview with the mother of five was "very powerful" and should be played to all local authority councillors.
She didn't seem to clarify why and for what reason.
Later she did seem to offer some opinions somewhat in line with what Brendan has been arguing for.
But a lot of her comments were very anecdotal and at one stage she said that statistics tell us nothing.
She did mention the term "homeless industry" a couple of times in what seemed to be a slightly disparaging way - which is odd coming from somebody in the homeless industry.
I wasn't that convinced by what she had to say as much as I could understand it.
And I wouldn't place much stock in her praise of other commentators such as Brendan.

 

[TheBigShort]

I haven't heard the program yet so it is good to get these two (somewhat disparate) accounts. I must say, though, that I find Alice Leahy to be the most consistently creditable spokesperson on homelessness in our media.

I'm not that familiar with her tbh. But she came across as someone somewhat progressive with acute knowledge of the issue.
She was particularly praiseworthy of the woman (Edel) interviewed at the start with 4(5?) kids living at home with parents, 8yrs on the waiting list. The interview is quite powerful, as she attests to.