Response will define this society - How to resolve the housing crisis

HOUSING Minister Simon Coveney faces a greater and more pressing challenge than most of his cabinet colleagues, a situation he recognised when he asked to be given the portfolio.

The scale of the task was not made any less daunting by yesterday’s assertion to the Oireachtas committee on housing and homelessness by Nama chairman Frank Daly that the agency could not solve the crisis on its own.

That challenge, however, will be — or at least should be — made manageable because there is universal acceptance that we have to dramatically improve how housing, especially social housing, is provided, accessed and paid for. At the moment, the process of getting a home is almost a lottery and increasingly unaffordable for people in what were traditionally considered decent jobs capable of sustaining a family.