Business Post's View

Editorial: Desperate times call for desperate measures in budget to address housing crisis

The government is planning to introduce a hefty tax cut for small landlords and a ‘backstop’ mechanism which would involve the state buying unsold apartments and using them for cost rental housing

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien: ‘backstop’ mechanism would involve the state buying any apartments developers cannot sell on the open market and using them for cost rental housing. Picture: Fergal Phillips

The government is now well over the halfway mark in its five-year term and housing remains as much a problem for the country as it was when Darragh O’Brien first took office as the Minister for Housing in 2020.

And although 30,000 new homes were completed last year, the country’s rental market in particular remains chronically under-supplied. In a desperate bid to keep supply in the rental market, the government is now planning to introduce ...