‘ISSUE MUST BE A GOVT PRIORITY’
He said: “The crisis in the availability of affordable housing in Ireland is becoming the critical barrier to the continued growth and development of business investment.
“An inadequate supply of affordable housing is the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
Rent
“The housing crisis has increasingly become a concern in relation to cohesion in the workplace and society more broadly.
“Younger workers, in particular, are financially pressed by ever-higher rents and the relivery,
prospect of homeownership.
“This ultimately spills over into issues around well-being and productivity in the workplace, while in the longer-term, if left unchecked, will also create emerging challenges in terms of pension adequacy and people’s broader stake in society over the coming decades.”
The IBEC report comes in the same week that the numbers of people in emergency accommodation reached a new record of 11,632 during December.
Mr O’Brien added: “From an employer perspective, there is a need to reinvigorate the policy drive around the availability and affordability of housing in the context of these challenges.
“This will require a suite of measures to improve the viability and affordability of homebuilding, such as addressing emerging financing deficits, reform of the planning and procurement system to speed deceding a ramping up of ambition in affordable and cost-rental housing, and investment in skills and modern methods of construction.
“From an affordability perspective, our proposed fiscal measures would reduce the cost of a typical €400,000 new home by €30,000 and this could be achieved with immediate effect.”