Irish Property Market chat II - *read mod note post #1 before posting*

Initially the ideal scenario would be just a reallocation of resources within the same areas based on need (household size). You’d hope, and I expect it would, fix an awful lot of the current issues.

But if deficits continued to exist, a logical and fair solution would be again be based on need. Somewhat subjective I guess but personally I see ‘location’ as being crucial for daily activities. Work and schooling being the two primary ones. Typically retired people have less daily ‘must go here’s’ and therefore need for ideal location is lower than a nurse and a teacher with 3 children of school going age. So I’d personally still allocate to the younger threshold.

All the issues you mentioned of leaving friends family facilities are issues facing an entire generation. I don’t see why elderly should be insulated from that purely due to a fortunate year of birth (in ideal modern world everyone would be insulated, but we don’t leave in an unreal world). Forcing young people to take 100% of the brunt doesn’t meet the overachieving societal need, isn’t logical, nor is it fair.

You highlight young peoples needs but neglect and dismiss older peoples needs which increase as they get older maybe in time you will see this when parents etc get older.

I take from your post you have little understanding or exposure to it at the moment if you think retired people have less crucial daily must go’s. Maybe for the first 10 years after retirement but after that it changes quickly with multiple doctor/hospital visits etc…

Well we have it now. Blame the older generation, hound them out of there houses and support structures. Blame the Government. Every page or so blame FFG. Blame the cost of housing. The workers on sites must be being paid too much. Blame the developer's. Blame the local authorities they are not building houses. Blame HAP. Blame Investors big and all. Blame mammy and daddy for giving or not giving there children a helping hand. Blame the IFSC. Blame the MNC's for paying some workers too much. Blame the Ukranisns. Blame the EU. Blame the banks. Blame those that come to work here

Blame, blame, blame everybody and anybody because we want to be handed everything on a plate.

Carrot (downsizing incentives) and stick (higher property taxes/bedroom taxes) approach which tries to flip the currently absurd situation where young families are piled into 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, many of whom defer or completely avoid having children because of it, whilst older empty nesters occupy the vast majority of the larger homes. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/seven-in-10-irish-people-live-in-homes-too-large-for-their-needs-1.4455690

There’s no rationale argument against this in a situation where we just can’t magic up the 10s of thousands of extra homes needed at the minute.

I think the older generation had their fair share of displacement. I wouldnt be that old (at least most of my generation were able to come home after a few years), but even from my generation I think 3 people from my class in school didnt have to emigrate. At one point all my brothers and sisters and my Dad were living in different countries for work.

If people want to point out that people have to move a little further from the center from the younger generations, Im afraid they actually have no fcuking idea what its like to have to move because of the economy.

Back then too, when you said goodby to a relative at the boat (or the airport if they were going really far), you might not have seen them ever again. Young people are all me, me , me. Its gets old very fast when you see them moaning about the older generations.

I don’t understand why the government don’t invest in retirement villages for pensioners/ elderly instead of lashing out the numerous student apartments in prime locations.

A large number of elderly are living in 3,4,5 bed homes which they would probably sell if they were given a decent alternative. A retirement village like the ones in Portumna would combat the loneliness a lot of our elderly experience as they would have a like minded community and have access to medical and social care needs on site and don’t have to deal with the stress of maintaining their property/ gardens

This Country is so messed up, we have students living in apartments yet we have homeless families living in emergency B&B accommodations with no access to running drinking water or any cooking facilities to feed their children. It’s beyond f*cked up

Another aspect of social housing I've never understood is tenants being given the opportunity to purchase the house at half the market value. Where is the logic in this? I wouldn't have much issue with tenants being offered the chance to buy their home from the council at the going rate, but why are people getting a 50% discount on top of them paying rent at 50%+ below market rate for decades.

The first time I heard of this tenant purchase scheme was when it was used by a friend's family years ago. Her mother has since passed and the house was left to her and her brother who are renting it out and splitting the €900 p/m rent.

It's a fine 3 bed house that the council owned for decades but basically gave away for like €50k. Now it's on the private rental market when it could have been kept by the council and used to house another family.

I mean there's not thousands of empty apartment blocks in the suburbs. So your plan hits the buffers immediately. The solution is to build. If there was retirement villages built then people could downsize and not feel like they were isolating themselves.

You're a homeowner yourself. So be interesting to see if you move into a small apartment in your late fifties once the kids have left.

Why would they leave when there are close to 100% grants for stair lifts, driveways for wheelchair access, repositioning of electrical fittings etc

Ironically much of this work will be reversed, thrown out when the home changes hands a few years later.

Unfortunately housing provision is driven by the needs of people at there peak earnings rather than the needs of people as they progress through life. In a proper functional market you would only need a 3/4 bed unit for 20 years of one's life

This comes at great cost to the state

Not many people in their 50/60/70s would want to move into apartments in the city centre. No gardens to pass your days in etc. Step outside your door cane first to the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

Fairly myopic thinking to be frank. How old are you if you don't mind me asking? Are your parents alive?

You could start by moving empty nesters with spare bedrooms out of state owned houses and giving them smaller houses and moving new families into their bigger properties.

Then if you could get that to work, you can try moving on to the privately owned properties that people have spent a lifetime buying and caring for.

Cant wait to see how you get on.