Dublin City Councillors met at City Hall for their November meeting on Monday night. Here’s some of what they voted on.
Ultimately, we need more public housing. But that shouldn’t stop the government regulating short-term lets in the meantime, writes UCD lecturer Andy Storey.
Given the city’s affordable housing crisis, how narrow a window of history should the Tenement Museum engage with in its tales of overcrowded living?
The idea that large social-housing developments are doomed to dystopia is rarely challenged. But it is wrong, write three housing experts.
Developers are generally required to include a parking space with every apartment but these add to building costs, and only 35 percent of people drive to work in Dublin city anyway.
Many council-owned apartments are sitting empty in ageing complexes scheduled to be torn down and rebuilt in the coming years. Some argue that people could live in them in the meantime.
At Monday’s monthly meeting, councillors questioned Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy on current policies – before moving on to their usual business.
“If we look at the major policy initiatives over the last two years, it is hard to draw any other conclusion,” writes Mick Byrne.
The housing charity Threshold says it’s had an increased number of calls from people who are being evicted on the grounds of “substantial refurbishment”.
Some letting agents don’t limit the number of people invited to viewings of up-for-rent homes, so as many as 100 might show up. Some say it’s fair, others that it’s heartless.
Richard Florida, author of 2002’s “The Rise of the Creative Class”, is back with a follow-up that looks at soaring housing prices in the world’s most successful cities, and offers some solutions.
