Irish Examiner view: We need urgent action to fix Ireland's housing crisis

The Housing Commission estimates that there is an underlying undersupply of over a quarter of a million homes in Ireland. File Picture: PA

The Housing Commission has said a “radical strategic reset of housing policy” is the only solution to the ongoing crisis in housing and accommodation.

It may sound strange to describe a call for a “radical strategic reset” as somehow understating the case, but it’s hard to avoid that conclusion here. The commission has submitted a report to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien which identifies “ineffective decision-making and reactive policy-making where risk-aversion dominates” as major challenges in the sector, adding: “These issues, together with external influences impacting housing dynamics, contribute to the volatility in supply, undermining affordability in the housing system”.