Sir, – Ten months after the failure to appoint a person to the new job of “housing tsar”, the Government announced a new appointee. This new appointee is a civil servant who moves from the Department of Transport.
Speeding up developments is his brief as head of the Housing Activation Office. The best of luck with that.
Ireland has one of the highest under-occupation rates per home in the EU. We have a population of 5.5 million people and have almost 2 million homes which is 2.75 people per household. Instead of constantly demanding more building, the under-occupation of existing homes should first be addressed.
The huge amount of vacant properties should be utilised and brought back into use.
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There are also a large number of three or four bedroom houses occupied by older couples or single people, who would be prepared to downsize if suitable smaller accommodation were available.
These issues should be the first to be addressed by the new housing tsar. This new role should take responsibility for house revival, redevelopment and conversion of vacant houses, shops and commercial buildings, with the powers to bypass bureaucracy, to enable these buildings to be converted into comfortable homes. Yours, etc,
Brian Lube,
Kilcock,
Co Meath.
