Resolving housing crisis: Are planning shortcuts wise?

Figures showing that house prices have jumped by between 11% and 17% in Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford over the last year underline the scale of the housing crisis and how very difficult it will be to resolve. 

This crisis is a symptom of many things, everything from poor planning and governance, a naive over-reliance on an indifferent, unreliable market and the very dangerous and widening gap between those who cannot afford the basics of life and those who seem to control ever greater proportions of the world’s wealth.

The crisis has prompted Government to initiate measures one of which is believed to be a request from Housing Minister Simon Coveney for an additional €2bn on top of €3bn earmarked to build 50,000 social housing units over five years.