Can the 'wicked problem' of housing in Ireland ever be solved?

Opinion: an effective, long-term solution to the housing crisis still evades the policymaking process here and elsewhere

Just about everyone agrees that the Irish housing system is in crisis. It is dysfunctional and its provision is unequal: think of the homeless, the sofa surfers, generation renters and those in sub-standard accommodation. Our politicians also recognise that there is a problem, and before each general election, all sides vow to make changes. So why does this crisis continue?

Writing in 1973, Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber identified the concept of 'wicked problems' to explain why conventional public policy continued to fail to solve significant social problems in a way that is simple or final. They identified that policy focus on the symptoms, rather than the causes, for major social problems meant that the problem will never be solved. Given the emergence of long-term housing crisis, not only in Ireland but elsewhere in Europe and North America too, perhaps the development of a functioning housing system might also be such a 'wicked problem'?

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Late Debate, a housing special with Senator Mary Fitzpatrick, Senator Rebecca Moynihan, Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin, business journalist Killian Woods and Prof Orla Hegarty from UCD

In a democracy such as ours, it is easy to assume that public policy addresses issues of public concern. How can it be otherwise? Politicians are elected with a mandate to implement their party's election manifesto, providing some certainty to the direction of government, and therefore the policies that it will seek to develop and implement. If a government reneges on its promises, or fails to achieve adequate progress during its tenure, the electorate has opportunity to deliver accountability through the ballot box. However, the gap between public opinion and public policy is a democratic deficit: the public do not always get what they want.

Public interest in the housing crisis has been high for some years. A RTÉ exit poll after the 2016 general election allowed respondents to name the main issues that the government should focus, with 51% concerned for the homeless situation and the lack of local authority housing, whilst 20% mentioned mortgage repayment rates, house prices and the cost of rent. More recently, the 2020 election exit poll asked respondents to identify the one main problem to be addressed by the incoming government, with 26% identifying housing and homelessness (second only to health).

From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Eoin Ó Broin TD, Sinn Fein spokesperson on housing, and Richard Bruton, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Bay North and chairman of the party, discuss social housing policy

This wicked problem is not new and is likely to continue to be a crisis for the present, and in all likelihood the next, minister with responsibility for housing. The question which has challenged politicians from a range of political parties is what would be an appropriate public policy response?

Research and reports continue to advocate for Irish public policy around housing to take a different direction. Eloquent and forceful advocates demand a strengthened role for the government to increase provision of social housing, or to tax vacant land to encourage supply. Others, equally persuasively, have sought to promote approaches which encourage a role for civil society, offering means for reducing commodification and marketisation of housing, advocating the benefits of the cost rental model or promoting a Housing First model. Elements of each could be taken forward with the assistance and support of an active public sector.

But it is the policymaking solution, the process of implementing change, that has eluded political action. In the meantime, the crisis has continued and deepened. However, the Covid-19 emergency proved that governments can be reactive, fast acting and effective when they choose to be. Consider, as examples, the short-term provision to address homelessness during the pandemic, as well as legislation to provide short-term support to tenants in rent arrears and those at risk of losing tenancies or facing eviction. Such measures regulated the market, provided a social safety-net at a time of particular need and were implemented in Ireland and beyond, but they were short term.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Michael O'Flynn, CEO of the O'Flynn Group, and Mel Reynolds architect and housing policy analyst, discuss the problems with fast track planning scheme for developers

So why does an effective, long-term solution to the housing crisis still evade the policymaking process? With housing, the assumption is that there is consensus on what that problem is: the system is in crisis, but it is the policy response which is out of step. The sensible course of action might be a new and widescale programme of public housing, a facilitated civil society, or other measures to make homelessness, as well as inappropriate and unaffordable housing, things of the past, not just as short-term measures.

But such outcomes are seemingly not possible in current circumstances. Instead, public policy focuses on the symptoms such as, for example, fiscal incentives or regulation to overcome or limit the impacts of unaffordability for select groups rather than addressing the causes of system unaffordability.

Whilst consensus exists that there is a problem of housing provision in Ireland, there is not a similar consensus on the causes nor, therefore, on the solutions. In order to provide a different answer, there is then a need to take a step back and to reframe the question of 'what is the problem?' Rittel and Weber identified that a problem is the difference between the state of affairs as it is and what ought to be. They also highlighted that policy ought not try to cure symptoms of the problem, but the causes.

From RTÉ Archives, RTÉ News report on the opening of a new housing scheme in Clonmel, Co Tipperary in 1966

There have been many calls for Irish housing policy to take a different direction. The common theme for each, it seems, is the assistance and support of an active public sector. But perhaps the consensus on the problem is not as unanimous as it seems. After all, government action does not mirror public concern, especially when government support is for market-led 'solutions', the very same markets the public perceive to have failed them.

Finding consensus is the challenge for the wide range of stakeholders in the Irish housing system. The social impacts of housing crisis need to be addressed, and the best place to start is with a national discussion and agreement on what ought to be, and the underlying causes of the problem, not just the symptoms.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

Can the 'wicked problem' of housing in Ireland ever be solved?

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Paul Umfreville