Ivan Gaine: Shared equity proposal can alleviate housing mess

There’s no silver bullet to the current crisis, but the shared equity initiative would make a meaningful difference to aspiring first-time buyers

The proposed shared equity solution would enable first-time buyers them to buy a home with mortgage repayments below monthly rents

Just when the housing industry was beginning to increase supply of private and social housing, the industry has suffered a number of major setbacks. Not alone have Covid-19 health restrictions delayed delivery, but judicial reviews of Strategic Housing Developments have stymied the government’s efforts to accelerate the planning process for approval of new developments.

Ambitions to improve the sustainability of housing have added to costs. This in turn means that larger-scale projects are vital to ...