Catherine Conlon: Nimbys need to realise their objections to new housing harms all of society

People do not equate the impact that stalling a new housing development in their area has on the inability of their adult children to find a home, or on staff shortages in health and education 

Nimbyism voiced by people living in comfortable homes is a constant challenge to the ability to provide affordable housing to young people working in key jobs in the public sector. Picture Denis Minihane.

Reform of the judicial review process that has the potential to limit the ability of individuals or groups to take legal challenges against planning decisions is set to become a big issue between the Green Party and its Coalition partners.

Government proposals to reform the planning process include plans to allow An Bord Pleanála to correct an "error of fact or law" it has made in a planning decision, which would pause any judicial review that is under way while the error is remedied.

Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan said "creating a facility whereby a party to a legal action can correct an error of fact or law during the process of a judicial review will create huge uncertainties for the other parties involved. This will inevitably have a very chilling effect on environmental cases." 

A key issue the reforms are trying to address is the potential of individuals and groups to delay the planning process and thereby slow down the delivery of homes during a seemingly insurmountable housing crisis.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has urged homeowners to consider the plight of those seeking to get their foot on the property ladder before objecting to new developments. 

Challenges to new housing developments

Planning commentator Rory Hearne, in his book Gaffs, tells us that increasingly the homeowner generation is realising their children have no prospect of finding a home in this current approach to housing. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

It follows ongoing and persistent challenges to new housing developments across the country that are consistently objected to by private citizens as well as politicians representing local citizens.

Nimbyism frequently involves residents in an area objecting to new housing developments that may impact the desirability of the area. 

But nimbyism has a knock-on impact on everyone, including the objectors. 

Parents and grandparents in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, living in comfortable homes are now finding their adult children could still be living at home, even into their 40s. 

Planning commentator Rory Hearne, in his book Gaffs, tells us that increasingly the homeowner generation is realising their children have no prospect of finding a home in this current approach to housing.

"What is the point in knocking around in a house worth half a million when your kids are paying €2,000 rent a month with no prospect of stability or affordability, not to mention the prospect of not having grandchildren owing to your own children’s reluctance to start a family when without a home of their own?"

If you are on a minimum wage, work part-time, or have a short-term contract, like many teachers and university staff, or waiters or cleaners, or gardaí, or healthcare assistants or nurses — you cannot afford to buy a home in Ireland. 

Neither can you afford to rent in Dublin or many of the major urban centres throughout Ireland.

Teaching unions recently warned the housing crisis is posing a serious risk to the education system. 

A recent report highlighted how two-thirds of primary schools in Dublin are unable to fill their staffing allocation and neighbouring counties of Kildare and Wicklow are similarly affected. Along with Galway and Cork, these areas face huge challenges in recruiting substitute teachers.

Delivery of education at risk

According to the trade unions, the effective delivery of education is now fundamentally at risk if we don’t take steps to tackle the chronic housing challenges we are facing.

Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha: 'We believe accommodation costs are so high now that it is going to be impossible for people who start on a low salary to have accommodation in and around hospitals where they’re desperately needed.' Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The housing crisis is forcing young nurses to move abroad to countries with cheaper accommodation. 

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: "We believe accommodation costs are so high now that it is going to be impossible for people who start on a low salary to have accommodation in and around hospitals where they’re desperately needed."

Nimbyism voiced by people living in comfortable homes is a constant challenge to the ability to provide affordable housing to young people working in key jobs in the public sector. 

In using this tool to protect their immediate interests, people do not equate the impact that stalling a new housing development in their area has on the inability of their adult children to find a home. 

They do not tie the impact of their objections to the long waiting lists in hospitals and emergency departments — which is hugely impacted by the inability to recruit staff who cannot afford skyrocketing rents.

In the last few years, a method of public engagement that has the potential to puncture some of the heat of nimbyism has emerged — coproduction. 

This is a form of engagement that raises the bar for the role that communities can play in how their homes, neighbourhoods, and cities are managed and changed.

In housing terms, one intervention that has begun to make a difference in changing the role of communities, as well as their influences over these processes, is the resident steering group or project committee. 

This form of engagement allows representatives from both the community and lead stakeholders to a project — typically a local authority — to share equal representation, with a group established to make decisions over the lifetime of a project.

For coproduction to work, cultural and structural changes are required to realise a new power dynamic between communities, local authorities, tenants, and landlords as well as a willingness to unlearn well-worn paternalistic ways of doing business within institutions.

If this all sounds a bit too idealistic, there is evidence of coproduction working well in the UK. In Croydon and Waltham Forest, Community Led Housing London has been supporting two separate housing associations to work in partnership with community groups to enable them to plan, deliver, own, and manage their own homes.

Could coproduction and community-led housing turn us from a nation of NIMBYs into a nation of YIMBYs (Yes in My Back Yard) or even a nation of PHIMBYs (Public housing in my back yard)?

The Government has a key role in solving the housing crisis. All of us can play a role too — by joining the campaign to put the right to housing in the constitution. 

By getting involved in the planning and delivery of affordable homes in your area — support your children and grandchildren in getting homes and raising families.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

By being loud in your support for key workers to be able to find affordable accommodation and take thousands of unfilled jobs in crucial sectors- like health and education, right across Ireland.

• Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork and former director of human health and nutrition, Safefood