The warning lights are now flashing for the next phase of the Irish housing crisis. Commencement figures – the data which tracks the number of housing units on which construction has begun – peaked some months ago and are now falling rapidly. From a high of 35,000 commencements in the spring, the figure for new commencements at the year-end is now expected to be materially lower. That spells trouble for the number of homes that we will see being delivered to people over the next 12-24 months and will add further pressure to an already-difficult situation.
The biggest factor behind these figures is that a lot of the permissions that are now live in the system are for apartments, when what we need is own-door housing. In a nutshell, we have recklessly planned apartments that are too costly to deliver and out of favour at the expense of own-door homes that are more affordable, sustainable and, most importantly, will be built.
The current requirement to build apartments (to satisfy the density requirements for new developments in the 2016 National Planning Framework) is directly adding to the cost of both the houses and the apartments in that development. Replacing costly apartment units with more affordable own-door housing could reduce the prices of units across a development by 20 per cent.
To address this issue, we presented proposals to Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien earlier this year that we think would make things much better for people who are looking for an affordable and sustainable new home.
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Downward price pressure
Our proposals are about changing the mix of units so we can replace apartments with own-door houses. This would mean there would be the same number of units in a development, but a dramatically improved living experience.
This will not only lead to significant downward pressure on house prices but – far more importantly – open up hundreds of sites that at present are commercially unviable. Reducing the cost of building makes it possible to deliver tens of thousands of the new homes that our society craves but which will not be built under the current policy regime.
Our proposals are also about achieving greater fairness among all homeowners in individual developments. They would eliminate the current imbalance between apartment owners who might only get a few square metres of balcony space and owners of houses who get 55-60sq m gardens. Instead, our plans would see 40sq m gardens for every home.
Our plans envisage reducing separation distances between houses that were introduced in Britain and Ireland in 1918 for the post-first World War era, when back gardens had to include outdoor toilets and coal sheds. Britain ditched these separation distances a long time ago.
Do we really want to restrict housing supply today for reasons that haven’t been relevant since our grandparents or great-grandparents moved their toilets inside and put in central heating?
And do we really want our housing crisis to be prolonged and aggravated because of unfounded and misplaced fears of a back-garden crisis?
Some people have accused us of acting out of self-interest in making these proposals. But the logic of that argument is that we should ignore the views of the very people we expect to build the houses for – young people who so desperately want them.
Hard-earned knowledge
And we can back up our opinion with in-depth and hard-earned knowledge of construction, of consumers, of what works in new homes and what doesn’t.
We can also say with confidence that no business lasts long – or even deserves to last long – if it acts out of self-interest instead of serving its customers to the very best of its ability and finding new and better ways to give them what they want at prices they can afford. Our proposals should be viewed in that context.
People are free to dismiss our proposals if they don’t like them. But I am confident most people will agree that what we’re proposing makes a lot of sense.
Ultimately, whether these proposals become reality will be a decision for our elected representatives – as it should be.
We will continue to promote these changes. Others may argue against them. And the Government will make its decisions based on what it thinks is the best course of action for the country as a whole.
We think our proposals get the balance right. If the current policy was working, we would not be seeing daily headlines about the severity of our housing crisis. It is time for new thinking if we are serious about new homes.
Stephen Garvey is chief executive of Glenveagh Properties
