"Some sane ideas to fix this housing madness"

I'd do both.
 
I'd do both.
I meant both when I said "vacant or just mostly vacant". A tax (extra on top of LPT) second and third homes will automatically bring vacant properties into the equation. Owning a holiday home is a luxury - and should be taxed liked one. At the moment the problem isn't just eating into the supply of houses, it's also tying up labour as many holiday home owners can afford to overpay to get work done.
 
Well keep saying no isn't going to solve the issue

It was your incorrect assumption to which I said no, viz.:

If our Social housing stock was treated properly by all those involved that stock would be useful for 3 or 4 generations .



And comparing against other countries isn't going to solve the issue.

Again in referring to the international experience of social housing, I was merely rebutting your claim that this is a "uniquely Irish" problem.
 
I meant both when I said "vacant or just mostly vacant". A tax (extra on top of LPT) second and third homes will automatically bring vacant properties into the equation.
I agree.
Owning a holiday home is a luxury - and should be taxed liked one. At the moment the problem isn't just eating into the supply of houses, it's also tying up labour as many holiday home owners can afford to overpay to get work done.
We should structure our taxation system to create the greatest societal benefit, not because we are jealous of those who have more than us. I'm reminded of the old line that middle class socialists don't give a damn about the poor, they just hare rich people. What they don't realise is that many middle class socialists are rich people, they just don't have very high incomes.
If we taxed luxuries like that then there's be a special tax on Sky Sports, take away food, large TV's etc and we'd charge a higher rate of VAT on all sportswear that costed more than €30.
 
it's also tying up labour as many holiday home owners can afford to overpay to get work done.
What a peculiar argument. The idea that odd-job men and washing machine repairers could start building much-needed housing if only their existing work could slacken off a bit is frankly bizarre.
 
Again in referring to the international experience of social housing, I was merely rebutting your claim that this is a "uniquely Irish" problem.
I don't like it when people take my quote and use two words of it out of context to make a point, it shows a lack of manners.

The quote was "uniquely Irish attitudes " kindly stop this .
 
I don't like it when people take my quote and use two words of it out of context to make a point, it shows a lack of manners.

The quote was "uniquely Irish attitudes " kindly stop this .
Out of context my nelly.

This is what you said.
There are solutions available but the amount of vested interests, parochial mind sets and a host of uniquely Irish attitudes seem intent of finding any.
If you're taking umbrage with this being used to mention a reference to "uniquely Irish", you have little to worry about.

And as for my manners, I have been unfailingly polite to you throughout all this. Feel free to report any relevant comments if or when I'm not.
 
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I never once said that the problem was " distilled down to uniquely Irish attitudes " on this and multiple occasions I have suggested that the problems faced in our housing strategies have multiple issues, both quantifiable and non quantifiable and if all these factors must be addressed if we are going to solve it.

You have been polite and I have no issue with your posting , but when quotes are sliced or not quoted in full , I find that rude and you clearly know how to respond to the full quote.
 
Buy to let investors, can get interest only loans and they can then sell the asset, after 20 years, to pay back the original cost of purchase. They can also charge a rent which provides them with a substantial profit, ie; the difference between the interest only rent, maintenance costs and the actual rent they charge. They then get to keep the profit from both of these agreements, if there is any, and walk away.
Social housing, of course, should not be based on profiteering, but the state retains the asset, so that future generations can use the house.
We don't have to allow the market to rule everything. Its not, always, the most efficient or fairest way of doing things.
 

No answer to my question though:
Thanks. A 1% rate of return before maintenance and after interest isn't remotely economic though. How many decades until the original €250k outlay will be recouped?

Social housing, of course, should not be based on profiteering, but the state retains the asset, so that future generations can use the house.
Yet..


We don't have to allow the market to rule everything. Its not, always, the most efficient or fairest way of doing things.
You mean that the State should blow huge amounts of money on something that will in time generate no economic return?
 
One challenge with trying to use a lot of these properties to the rental or social housing is that it is perfectly acceptable to live in such a house yourself, but there are strict requirements for rental or social housing that many of these could not meet without very significant investment. Most houses of that era will suffer from damp, mould, and heat retention issues that mean a deep retrofit would be required to bring them up to standard.
 
Oh I accept all this and wasn't for one minute saying that the cost of such work be ignored completely, but a rudimentary view is that retrofitting these properties would be cheaper, perhaps not , than shoving subsidies into developers pockets.

Of course then once the properties are habitable they should stay in the possession of the local authority, rents can be negotiated with the cost of maintenance included or if there are changes in circumstances rents could increase , whatever makes it equitable for all involved needs to be known and then the correct decisions made.
 
You mean that the State should blow huge amounts of money on something that will in time generate no economic return?
But they are not " blowing huge amounts of money", they are building an asset, which will appreciate over time.
There are loads of counci housing estates around large cities, which were built in the 50's or 60's and still serve their purpose. Yes, they require maintenance, but that is a fraction of the cost of building anew.
The economic return cannot just be measured in a profit figure, it can be measured in the service that the housing project brings to the community. By housing families or individuals, over 100 year periods the " return" is phenomenal.
Some council houses have been used by 3 or 4 generations, at this stage. Councils have been generating a return, by selling their sites and housing to private developers. Many of those sites, purchased and developed 70 or 80 years ago are, currently, valued in the hundreds of millions. I think thats a terrible mistake, but it does show the sites have significant value, if that's your beef.
 
But they are not " blowing huge amounts of money", they are building an asset, which will appreciate over time.

No, they will deteriorate over time.

The economic return cannot just be measured in a profit figure, it can be measured in the service that the housing project brings to the community.
You clearly misunderstand the meaning of economic return.
By housing families or individuals, over 100 year periods the " return" is phenomenal.
There isn't a social housing unit in the country that has been in use for 100 years. And what exactly is the "phenomenal" return on say €500k of taxpayers' money being spent to house a single family or series of individuals over a generation or two, any more than say sending a few of them off to train as barristers?

If the sites had never been built on, they'd still be commanding these valuations, so whatever relevance that has to the economic viability of social housing escapes me.
 
What a peculiar argument. The idea that odd-job men and washing machine repairers could start building much-needed housing if only their existing work could slacken off a bit is frankly bizarre.
You'll find that when these people buy their holiday home they probably want a bit more than a washing machine repaired.

During the pandemic there was a huge increase in demand for costal detached property, basically any money that might instead have gone to places like Spain and France went instead to the Irish coast. These days that often involves a large scale renovation to bring it up the standard of the PPR especially when people moved there to work remotely - leaving the PPR vacant.

The work that's going on for second homes is affecting people who need to do work on their PPR. It's not the main reason clearly but it's one smaller reason.