Not going to get many new houses in the places bedsits were concentrated... and what new properties there are more expensive to build and rent correspondingly higher.
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Not going to get many new houses in the places bedsits were concentrated... and what new properties there are more expensive to build and rent correspondingly higher.Holding floor area and location constant, a new house today is just a much, much nicer product than the house I grew up in which was built in 1972.
The good old days. Even when I started out (and that was decades after Leper as he's VERY old) properties were affordable on modest enough incomes. Thanks to money printing that's no longer the case.I stayed in a few bedsits in my day. Back in the 70's you played Bedsit Roulette i.e. got one looked continuously for a better one. Back then you could afford a house by the time you were 24 and most married by 26th birthday.
There are still plenty if utter kips out there. I looked at a good few with my son when he was moving out and there were "Apartments" with glorified ladders to converted attics with mattresses on the floors. One place that was advertised as a one bed could sleep 9.Bedsits were never meant to be permanent from the start of your working days until you died. They were a temporary sort of accommodation most could afford. Some could be death traps with little exit and flammable materials throughout and no fire extinguishers (even if you knew how to use them).
"Something needs to be done", sure, but what? Blaming the government for the housing crisis is like blaming them for climate change. This is an international problem and we are ill suited to tackle it.With Ireland's housing crisis worsening, something needs to be done. A sort of decent bedsit availability could be a short term solution. We need solutions, not problems - this week on radio I heard a lady screaming for a sort of annual NCT for rented accommodation. We continue making things worse for tenants and landlords. Until we come to terms with this the problem will continue.
I am not blaming the government and neither is anybody else other than some SF supporters. However, the Housing Crisis is not going into "un-crisis" by itself. I don't have all the answers and it appears nobody else does either. But, we have to start somewhere or at least start. Stand still and we'll get run over which is what appears to be happening. And not a bad place to start would be the re-introduction of some sort of bedsit accommodation. I say this with landlords exiting the once lucrative market and with the possibility of all rental accommodation being subject to a B Ber rating along with the possibility of such homes having to undergo a kind of NCT test yearly."Something needs to be done", sure, but what? Blaming the government for the housing crisis is like blaming them for climate change. This is an international problem and we are ill suited to tackle it.
I worry that the narrative seems to be that we should provide more social housing when what's really needed is a construction sector that can provide houses at a rate average people can buy based on their wages and not existing equity.
What exactly do you mean that? In what country is housing not a commodity?Successive govts on many countries followed the same economic plan to privatize social housing. They also commoditised housing in general to fuel economic growth.
Not all governments and countries did this. So it's entirely valid to criticize any who did. In Irelands specific case they actually poured fuel on the fire when it was beyond obvious there was a problem.
REITs make up a tiny proportion of the rental sector so they have no material impact on rental costs or property prices. How do large landlords distort the market other than increasing supply?In recent years govt policy and inaction has directly impacted supply problems. Not least as it effects landlords. Even the rent pressure zones are implemented here in such a way to favour new landlords and thus large landlords and REITs which has further distorted supply very uniquely.
What other events, decisions by the State, brought us to this state?Bedsits were one of a litany of events that brought us to this point. As such recreating them won't put the genie back in the bottle.
Do the same rules not apply to all Landlords?I said new and large landlords. If it's new rental they can set any rent they like. (Not bound by RPZ) So small landlords stuck on low rent leave. New landlords with new properties raise the average rent.
It's an interesting way to have implemented that particular policy.
Such as?There are other approaches...
Do the same rules not apply to all Landlords?
Such as?
In the context of this discussion this article by Ronan Lyons is interesting.
Good spot. The thing about the ghost estates had always puzzled me. I was wondering where they'd gone!In the context of this discussion this article by Ronan Lyons is interesting.
REIT's are a relatively new introduction to the Irish housing market and while as a whole, they make up a small percentage of the market, over the past 10 years they have been the dominant player in the rental market and are pace setting the record levels of rental price increases. IMO.REITs make up a tiny proportion of the rental sector so they have no material impact on rental costs or property prices. How do large landlords distort the market other than increasing supply?
The State is the dominant player in the rental market. The State is pricing private renters out, just as they are pricing private buyers out of the market.REIT's are a relatively new introduction to the Irish housing market and while as a whole, they make up a small percentage of the market, over the past 10 years they have been the dominant player in the rental market and are pace setting the record levels of rental price increases. IMO.
the net result is more housing units. How is that a bad thing?They are also affecting house prices on a local level. There's a road not far from me here in Dublin, red brick 1930's houses. 3 houses have gone for sale in the past 15 months and all 3 were bought by a REIT. The houses are being done up slowly and converted into apartments for rent. Homeowners on the road are being canvassed discreetly for more sales to the REIT.
The State is the dominant player in the rental market. The State is pricing private renters out, just as they are pricing private buyers out of the market.
the net result is more housing units. How is that a bad thing?
Are they empty because they haven't been put on the market of because people don't want them at their current price point?Hence why you see articles in the media about high end developments sitting empty or with high vacancy rates.
The Rental Crisis and Housing Crisis is more serious the nearer you get to Dublin from it's bordering counties. Dublin has got too big and nearly every day (never mind the weekends) is an event day. With Covid on the back foot and many working-from-home the country now has an ideal opportunity to decentralize more government departments etc. Ireland may never get this chance again.
Now is the time to act otherwise your Dublin commuting children/grandchildren will be hoping for their forever home within two miles of Limerick Junction, Ballybrophy or somewhere in Co Longford/Roscommon.
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