OH DEAR, judging from your reaction to a recent suggestion here that the Government should buy up some of the thousands of unsold new apartments and houses for social housing, there don’t seem to be too many taxpayers who want to see the builders bailed out.

A slew of hostile emails left us in no doubt that Government funds should not be diverted into a fast fix of the social housing deficit.

Coincidentally the Liberal Democrats in the UK have just put forward the same suggestion, encouraging the Government to buy up 150,000 new homes languishing on property developers’ books to help shore up the housing market.

The only official response here has come from the Green Party whose finance spokesman Senator Dan Boyle has called for a special convention between the Government, banks and builders to free up capital and increase the social housing stock. “I propose that this special convention on housing could indentify empty housing units that in the short term can be converted for social housing use, with the Government agreeing to the financial institutions paying for the units at a deferred time,” he said. He sees this as a way to allow building companies to get on with new projects. Sounds like the same idea to us!