Community is key with housing

■ As a public representative in a county with some of the highest property prices in the country, I think that more measures should be implemented by local and national government to ensure that young people from the community can remain living in the areas they grew up in, now and into the future.

With that in mind, it is my view that the concept of community-focused, affordable housing needs to become a core part of housing policy.

There is already a provision in legislation, section 98 (3d) of the Planning and Development Act, which would provide a foundation for this, as it

would allow for younger people to receive an advantage in an affordable housing application with respect to the amount of years they have spent living in a particular area.

Section 98 was previously implemented in a past affordable housing scheme formerly applied before being stood down by a previous government. Such an implementation would give direction to protect a sense of community – for example, to help allow young people involved in local sports clubs to remain engaged – against the continuing face of high property values.

This concept can be applied nationwide and would complement the Ireland 2040 strategy of rebalancing future population growth throughout the country (and not just in Dublin).

Every young citizen could ideally become eligible for an affordable housing opportunity in their home town using this approach. The loss of the vitality of younger people leaving their original communities after graduating is a widely experienced concern nationally. I expect that this would become a popular policy across Ireland as a result.

Cllr John Kennedy C/O Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Co Dublin