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Moving away from home

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    #32
    Emme
    Registered Users Posts: 4,055 ✭✭✭Emme


    hfallada wrote: »
    Im sorry but if you choose to live in the middle of no where. Dont expect the state to supply broadband and public transport to your hall door like someone in the city.

    Few people choose to live in the middle of nowhere unless it's related to their livelihood, i.e. farming. I would say that most people who live in the middle of nowhere and aren't farming aren't doing so by choice, they are doing so because they cannot afford to live anywhere else.

    I bet those clusters of houses in the Netherlands and Germany have better public transport links and amenities than many small towns in rural Ireland. Small rural towns have the worst of both worlds - they have a lack of good public transport and amenities AND they have the same crime problems that occur in city suburbs without amenities.

    Economist Dr Constantin Gurdgiev said that there should be more high density housing in cities and the idea behind this was that housing in cities would be more affordable. This is all very well if it is properly planned with adequate amenities. Many housing estates in Ireland around cities and in rural areas were hastily thrown up with an eye on profit and without proper planning for public transport and amenities. As long as this continues Irish people will live in one-off housing.

    Irish people are obsessed with land and are unwilling to live in apartments. This is a hangover from famine days and colonisation. It also stems from lack of proper tenant rights and poor building regulations. Many apartments are not properly soundproofed, indeed many semi-detached houses are not properly soundproofed. Some of my friends bought a house in the late 90s in a "nice" part of south Dublin and they can hear every move their next door neighbours make as well as entire conversations.

    We have to change our mindset in Ireland. Housing is for the primary benefit of people and the community, not for the primary benefit of developers, investors and landlords. Little has changed since the days of rackrents and absentee landlords and this is why people are forced to live 50km or more from where they work if they want adequate and affordable housing.


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    #33
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,966 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    foxy06 wrote: »
    Not sure how to respond to this. I got a council house when I couldn't afford to house myself and we improved education and worked hard so we are now in a position to house ourselves. Just not in the town we are in now. Hence the question in op. What do you mean by focusing on improving the neighbourhood? In other words stay in the council house despite all efforts made to improve income?

    Like I said, not trying to be mean. If your income has improved significantly since you got the council house, to the point that you can think about buying somewhere, then that's great. (I'm impressed if that's happened given the amount of time you were likely to have been on the list before getting a house. Fair play to you.)

    Unfortunately the rules around council housing actually see you pretty much trapped where you are: if you give up the council house to try renting further out, and it doesn't work, then you won't get another council house for a very long time. And you are not allowed to keep it if you aren't living there.

    What are the chances of you and your partner getting jobs based somewhere more affordable? That would be one way to afford a house without the commute. (Just remember that you are Dubs, and the harsh truth about some small towns is that you won't be 100% welcomed.)

    Re improving the neighbourhood: what pro-social activities are there for kids in the area? Sports, music, whatever. When there aren't options, this is what tends to breed anti-social activities. Personally I think you may get more benefit from investing the time you would spend commuting in community activites.


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    #34
    wexie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,480 ✭✭✭wexie


    hfallada wrote: »
    If you go to Germany, the Netherlands etc. You will see no houses for several miles, than about 10 bunched together. It makes it cheaper and possible to supply broadband, water services, electricity a lot cheaper, than houses scattered all over the place.

    I'm not sure quite where in the Netherlands you're referring to, it must be a part I've never visited in the 24 years I lived there. Certainly the parts I've seen you'd be hard pushed to find anywhere outside of a national park where you could be further than a mile away from a house or farm. Never mind several miles. And little settlements of 10 or so houses simply don't exist. It's less than half the size of Ireland and has nearly 4 times the population so the comparison is pretty poor.

    hfallada wrote: »
    Im sorry but if you choose to live in the middle of no where. Dont expect the state to supply broadband and public transport to your hall door like someone in the city.

    I don't and I don't believe mentioning it anywhere? My broadband is more than sufficient for my needs (and should they change than extra bandwidth is only a phonecall away) and you couldn't pay me to take public transport so I certainly couldn't care less if it's available or not.

    I chose to live in the countryside because it allows me space and peace and quiet and because my lifestyle allows me to do so.


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