# Colm McCarthy: How to solve the housing crisis



## Brendan Burgess (15 Apr 2018)

A great article. It seems so obvious, yet so difficult to overcome the vested interests. 

*How to solve the housing crisis*

*Current planning policy must be abandoned if we want to end the crisis of rocketing property prices and rents*

But Dublin is a pretty small city in reality, with a population in the city and county combined of just over 1.3 million. There are close on 100 bigger cities in China alone, and more importantly, dozens around Europe of similar size which manage to deliver affordable housing for citizens.

Current policy, starting with the 1963 Planning Act and its successors, should be abandoned. All unused and under-utilised land, including land currently zoned for agriculture or for ''amenity'', whatever that means, inside 10 or 15 miles of the M50 (and within it!) should be declared available for residential development, subject to planning permission. This would bring a guaranteed end to re-zoning controversies and the associated corruption. More importantly, it would solve the problem of how to capture for the State the so-called ''planning gain'' when low-value land is suddenly raised in value by fiat, by the simple expedient of eliminating the planning gain. Land prices would be driven back towards agricultural value. The current obsession with mobilising only land in the ownership of State agencies is an evasion - most of the derelict land in and around Dublin does not belong to the State.


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## Nordkapp (15 Apr 2018)

Fully agree, too much hoarding of derelict sites goes on this country.


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## Delboy (15 Apr 2018)

What we're building needs to be looked at too. I drove through Templeogue today and saw a building site right in the village so had a look at whats going on there 
https://www.dng.ie/residential/brochure/ashfield-place-templeogue-road-templeogue-dublin-6w/4090827


> Ashfield Place is an exclusive new development consisting of only sixteen bespoke homes.
> The development will offer a variety of terraced and semi-detached 3 and 4 bedroom homes designed to the highest standards with excellent finishes, offering an intelligent use of space and light, with a keen eye for style and commitment to quality.


Why are we still building houses in prime locations like this with space given over for car parking too. Madness


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## Brendan Burgess (15 Apr 2018)

I agree with the general thrust of the article. I would allow building houses on agricultural land within 20 miles of Dublin subject to a minimum density of x per acre.


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