"Time for reality check on State’s capacity to build social housing"

Brendan Burgess

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Time for reality check on State’s capacity to build social housing

Challenge is no longer funding, it’s delivery of largest social housing project
www.irishtimes.com

A broader issue is capacity within the construction sector itself. The IFAC has estimated employment in construction will have to rise to 180,000 to deliver the public capital programme, up from 144,000 currently – but with labour shortages already a growing problem. Meanwhile, supply-chain issues have contributed to a marked pick-up in input costs for construction sector firms.

Many commentators argue the State should just build houses – as if this exercise were as simple as flicking a switch. However, the challenge is no longer funding, but delivery. A realistic discussion on the capacity of the State, approved housing bodies and local authorities to do so and in a cost-effective manner is long overdue.
 
I have been saying this over and over.

It's a supply-side issue.


Any scheme to affect the demand-side should be abolished.

What I want to see is the Taoiseach opening a training school to produce 1,000 of each trade/skill per annum.

Or radical thinking to increase supply.


Note that there are 40,000 building workers on the Live Register, first step is to contact these people and get them back working.


Maybe tax reliefs on builders earnings, rather than tax relief for FTBs?
 
Because a housing policy based on individuals taking on huge amounts of debt or relying on the state to put a roof over their head, especially when sold as an investment opportunity, is such a great idea - NOT.

When you got a dumb idea no amount of fiddling around with the parameters is going to fix it. Land is finite, everyone can’t live in the same location, low income individuals can’t afford to own a house, immigration is not main cause driving the prices up and foreign banks are not interest in entering the market to financing subprime lending.

Every country has a housing crisis of some kind of another and the chances of eradicating it are not high, but you certainly reduce your chances of easing the problem by setting out trying to achieve the impossible.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Do we not need these workers to deliver broadband to isolated farmhouses on the side of a mountain?
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Block layers, carpenters, plumbers and electricians are not needed to build the broadband infrastructure needed. Perhaps if we all moved to collective housing in Dublin it would be easier but then the Nimbyism of those already there would kick in.

Maybe instead of sending our leaving cert kids to 3rd level course in IT we should be investing in training apprentiships
 
Peanuts20 said:
Maybe instead of sending our leaving cert kids to 3rd level course in IT we should be investing in training apprentiships
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But that only works if they are suited to apprenticeships! Many a good tradesperson would make for a dreadful IT pro and vice versa.
 
I am concerned about efficiency in spending all the tax payers money, the county councils have a very poor record in building, maintaining, managing and collecting rent in public housing.
 
Protocol said:
Maybe tax reliefs on builders earnings, rather than tax relief for FTBs?
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Maybe tax relief on investments that reduce labour input in house construction?
We don't need more tradespeople building houses, we need more factories making houses or chunks of houses. That reduces the labour input at every stage of the supply chain. We aren't going to fix the skills shortage, there just aren't enough people with the aptitude who want to go into the sector. It's skilled work but it's dirty and physical and relatively dangerous. It's cyclical and insecure and age and injury aren't your friend.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Do we not need these workers to deliver broadband to isolated farmhouses on the side of a mountain?
Click to expand...

Absoutely not, sure it would be faster and probably a lot cheaper to give them a grant to help buy equipment for the Starlink service. Ah, but that would necessitate having to do something about the rediculous contract that the Government signed, for the roll out of national broadband (which must be in breach, given how far behind schedule it is, and the other goings on, regarding how the contracted company was capitalised etc.).

So, let's assume the Government have a moment of "brilliance", and terminate the broadband contract (for the supplier's failure to perform), that's circa €3.5bn. freed up. Granted, part of that goes on grants, to help fund Starlink kit, for qualifying parties. They'll still free up circa €2.5bn plus.

You could build a lot of houses with that money!

Trades people can be attracted in from other countries, once we pay them a fair rate and treat them properly. It's not rocket science...
 
MrEarl said:
They'll still free up circa €2.5bn plus.

You could build a lot of houses with that money!

Trades people can be attracted in from other countries, once we pay them a fair rate and treat them properly. It's not rocket science...
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At about 300k a unit you'd get 8300 houses. Is that a lot of houses on a national basis?

Any tradespeople attracted from abroad need accommodation. In the short term that makes things worse.
We've been down that road before - building with a large amount of imported labour. Is the lead up to the last housing crash disappearing into folk memory?
 
@Purple
you seem to be saying that no matter what we do to try to boost labour supply in the trades, it won't be enough to build what I think is needed, which is 50,000 houses p.a.

Fair enough, you are closer to this than me.

I still think we should try, and I agree with you on pre-fab or modular housing.
 
The lead up to the last crash built approx one third of all the houses in the country. If only we had the sense to make that mistake again.
 

Is 8,300 more houses a lot of houses in a national basis - absolutely ! .... It's exactly 8,300 more houses that we might otherwise have, and will likely accomodate over 20,000 people for many decades to come !

To suggest that bringing in labour, (possibly on a short term basis) makes things worse, is madness. We need skilled workers and can't hang around for another 5-10 years while we try and train a new generation of trades people. If necessary, they could stay in (possibly) budget hotels, while constructing houses. Those who wish to remain in Ireland longer term will move to more permanent accommodation over the medium to longer term, while others may elect to move on, after working here for a few months, or a year etc.

As for how you conclude that trying to increase housing, that's desparately needed in Ireland, is going to cause a housing crash, I don't think I'll ever understand.
 
It's a pity some councils wouldn't do an audit on the houses people are living in at present. How many individuals (1 person), and single parents with 1 child, are living in a 3 bedroom house, and larger, apartments too. I've no doubt at all it would add up to thousands.
 
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