What does 'affordable housing' actually mean?

The benefits of cost rental housing will only be fully realised by pursuing absolute clarity in its usage, writes Michael Byrne

The real problem is that, when it comes down to it, we don’t really know what affordable housing means one way or the other. File photo: Leah Farrell / © RollingNews.ie

Recently Leo Varadkar and other Government members poured scorn on Mary Lou McDonald’s suggestion that average house prices would need to come down to €300,000. While this figure does seem a little far-fetched, what struck me as odd is that the stated aim of the Government is to make homeownership more affordable, which can only mean a significant decline in house prices.

The issue of affordability, and what exactly it means, has also been at the centre of recent debates about the Government’s new cost-rental sector. This novel housing tenure, a central plank of the Government’s housing strategy, was brought in under the Affordable Housing Act 2021.