The Ryan Review

RECENTLY, in this newspaper, a Munster estate agent took out a full page ad for a property auction being held this month. It advertised houses and apartments in Limerick and Waterford cities, perfect for both singletons (who make up the single biggest grouping on the housing list) and families.

In all, there were 20 properties, with enough space to house up to 92 people. The advised minimum values (AMVs) averaged just over €60,000 per unit. These are all going under the hammer, mostly to private buyers, or landlords eager to re-engage with the market and find a home for their cash.

The total value of all 20 together was €1.245m — of course, they may fly for more on the day.

In 2016, the Government spent €39m housing families in hotels and B&Bs in Dublin alone, double the figure spent the previous year. Seven hundred families every single month live in hotels, often all in one room with no laundry or cooking facilities, at an annual cost to the taxpayer of €55,000 each. Others are bunking on sofas, living in their cars or on the street.

Since the ‘rapid build’ housing programme was announced in 2015, just 22 units have actually seen the light of day, all in Ballymun. They each cost more than any one of the houses on the market in this one auction.

See where this is going? You don’t need a degree in joined-up-thinking to consider a matching exercise.

“It’s not that simple,” the naysayers will claim. “Housing is complex, needs are many, we don’t understand.” Well, actually, there are many people scratching their heads as to how, exactly, this is so complicated.

The number of vacant properties amount to some 200,000 — some will never be for sale, others are being ‘sat on’ by reluctant owners, but many are coming to market.

For the price of 20 families’ hotel accommodation, you can buy 20 houses, outright, and house them forever.