Home Why Public Housing is the Answer

Why is our housing system so dysfunctional? Why can it not meet social and affordable housing needs? Home examines the structural causes of our housing emergency, provides a detailed critique of government housing policy from the 1980s to the present, and outlines a comprehensive, practical, and radical alternative that would meet the housing needs of the many, not just the few. For three decades, Government policy has been marked by an under supply of social housing and an over-reliance on the private market to meet housing needs. The result is a dysfunctional housing system that is leaving more and more people unable to access appropriate, secure and affordable homes. The answer lies in establishing a Constitutional right to housing, large scale investment in a new model of public housing to meet social and affordable housing need, real reform of the private rental sector, and regulation of private finance, development, and land.

Eoin Ó Broin is a TD for Dublin Mid-West and Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government. He is a regular contributor to the Sunday Business Post and An Phoblacht.