Sir, – Orla Hegarty writes "when we welcome people to Ireland we must ensure their housing can be their home" as an argument against build-to-rent accommodation (Letters, November 17th).
This argument is little more than a dressed-up version of the NIMBYism that has created the rental crisis we find ourselves in. In addition to the wider housing crisis, there is a widely acknowledged shortage of rental accommodation. There is clear, pressing, and immediate demand for build-to-rent accommodation.
Not everyone wants or needs to put down roots in their accommodation and Ms Hegarty’s letter simply ignores this fact.
We have a generation of students, young professionals, and single people essentially stuck in the back room of their parents’ homes (or worse – emergency accommodation). These people cannot form communities in this situation. They cannot make their housing their home – it’s already someone else’s home.
The building of both build-to-rent and build-to-buy homes is the only solution to these crises.
The poorly-disguised NIMBYism of those who bandy about words like “transience” does not protect communities or renters, or their ability to “put down roots”. It does not provide the accommodation needed to end these crises. It prevents accommodation being built and protects house value inflation. It is simply another way to pull up the ladder behind themselves at the expense of the nation’s young people.
– Yours, etc,
AARON CASSIDY,
Chapelizod,
Dublin 20.