Sir, – The European Commission, no less, has now discovered that Irish housing policy is aggravating homelessness (News, February 27th).
If it suggested the benefits of such a policy, it was not mentioned in your article.
The benefits of current housing policy are twofold.
First, the banks are supported by rising house prices, lowering the number of loans in negative equity, and higher rents enable those who bought to rent to pay back the loan borrowed.
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Second, the political parties responsible for this situation expect that the feel-good factor felt by those who have seen the value of their homes increase exponentially will reflect itself in their being returned to power. The implementation of a policy of effective construction of the number of houses needed, social or otherwise, would defeat those purposes.
The homeless, those struggling to pay high rents and those seeking to buy are the victims of this situation, and until unspoken regret is replaced by radical condemnation, the powers that be will not deviate from their chosen course. – Yours, etc,
DAVID FITZGERALD,
Kiuruvesi,
Finland.