Not atall convinced that the State should be Neutral on Housing.
1. If State builds/supplies well located housing it creates a virtuous circle.
A. Puts a cap on the excesses of bubbles in housing market.
B. Saves on the ongoing issue of Rent Supplement type costs.
C. Once built , like all good infrastructure ,the upkeep/ongoing costs are known and small.Eg a house built 20 years ago is now a benefit to us.
D. The (Market )has to compete with a then adequate housing supply, thereby they have to up their game to make profit.Also only those who can really afford will go for higher mortgages, it will be perspiration not silly aspiration.
E. If (market) house prices/rents remain volatile or keep increasing we end up pricing out employers ,since wages must compensate for high rents.ie high rents kill jobs.
Housing is much too important to be left to the (market).
Like roads /electricity /water/health/education Government must plan and interfere in housing.
The theory is great Gerry but in practice it does not work out as smooth.
In a county that I know particularly well the Co.Co./State has spent over €70k on average on upgrading/repairing 300 houses in the last three years with a similar programme for the next 3 years. These houses were approximately 20 year old on average.
The money to build them had to be borrowed by the state.
I know the Engineer in charge and he told me that between administrative costs repair costs and bad debts in relation to rents that over that 20 year period the rents that were collected would not have covered the running costs never mind having a fund to do this upgrade.
All this is in an area where rents for a 3 bed semi are about €475pm. I am only stating facts that I know of.
My problem with social housing as it is currently run is there does not seem to be a penalty enforced for those who do not pay.
There does not seem to be a penalty for those who wreck their houses.
There does not seem to be a working deterrent for anti social behaviour and who make life miserable for the good people living in Council estates.
When vandalism and unsocial behaviour is allowed without real consequences for the perpetrators the estates rapidly deteriorate.
Too many Council estates have become ghettos and have other hidden costs such as extra Garda /social workers/doctors resources being deployed.
On many threads and in the media and politicians I often see a reference that Tenants have No security of Tenure. I am a Landlord (in a small way)for a long number of years and I cannot say I ever met a Tenant who was willing or wanting to do a lease for 5 years never mind longer. Tenants have effectively a 4 year term as it is.
I have had Tenants who stayed in excess of 5 years but they would not have agreed to it at the outset.