Why housing is a disaster
I WISH to compliment Liam Collins on his article (‘Iron out a few details and Ross’s “granny flat” grant is actually a pretty good idea,’ Irish Independent, October 3). His support for the concept in describing it as “actually a pretty good idea” was at least being open-minded to one small solution in the current disastrous approach towards the housing emergency in Ireland today. Pity about the tatty title ‘granny flat’. Would not ‘an affordable home concept’ be a better description?
But Liam got the important fact – it is a personal choice when a family wishes to choose such a housing option. It creates a space for the inter-generational family, keeping them where they want to live. It also provides many social and economic benefits when the concept is properly designed. To make it work, design is key in that the home allows for private space and general family space and makes both spaces work. When it does work it can make life for families easier in relation to elderly care, child care and smarter use of utilities. It is only an option when the family agree it is the best thing to do.
The UK government, under former secretary of state for communities Eric Pickles, researched this concept and introduced budget measures during 2012-2016. The UK set up a section to cater for the concept with a housing portal, reduced Vat to zero for construction works, and abolished much of the red tape and development levies to encourage this option. However, the most important thing was setting up the housing portal to give potential home extenders sound expert advice and provide excellent home mortgage annuity loan options that main street banks were reluctant to provide. The key point is that the UK government saw more positives to the idea than negatives. If families wished to choose this living arrangement, why should the UK government be the impediment?
It is interesting that most of our local and national housing stock was initially financed by local authority loans at very competitive rates. There is another issue concerning home extension. Ireland appears to have educated a generation of architects and planners since the 1990s who don’t really get this concept.
Development plans in regards to residential homes have been engineered around restrictions and red tape rather than actually thinking outside the box.
However, we do have architects that are brilliant in further developing this concept, but they are seldom encouraged to do so.
Finally, Fine Gael has left us with a commercial banking system that seems utterly intolerant to this concept. This concept of home extension could help future generations enormously. With the right modern design, it could be a viable option. But there is not a bank that would provide a home mortgage loan for such an idea. All our modern bankers appear to see is risk when it comes to bespoke home extensions. Bank underwriters don’t like homes that house more than two family generations.
The priority of most concern must be, is the asset value of the house or the people that want to make a family home to work and live in more important?
Being forced to select the former is why housing policy has become a disaster zone in Ireland. The Irish mortgage banks have not served us too well. Maybe we need to get local authority home building annuity loans back into operation. After all, they constructed most of the country until the late 1980s. Name/address with editor