Housing policy must meet social needs

I AGREE with Nuala Nolan’s call for a department of state dedicated to housing alone (Letters, March 16).

I also agree it is disgraceful that we have 70,000 people on the social and affordable housing lists while nothing apparently is being done about it. We are told there are plenty houses that can’t be sold. You would think the Government would buy them and assign two-thirds to the social housing list and one-third to the affordable housing list.

The Government might also commission developers to build some more social and affordable housing. This would have the added advantage of providing building work.