– A conversation around what the housing crisis means for us and long-term living in Dublin
It seems hard to remember a time when COVID wasn’t front and centre on our newsfeeds. However, if you cast your minds back to the sepia-tinged Ireland prior the pandemic, then you will remember that it was housing and the ‘housing crises’ that were one of the hot topics in the news. This was particularly the case in the lead up to the last general election, where each political party tripped over the other to announce manifestos which included building more (and more) social housing.
Although housing has been largely usurped as front page news, it will surely return soon. It hasn’t gone away completely, anyway. It is also clearly very important to us as individuals, as where we are going to live is one of life’s fundamental questions for all of us, and insecurity and movement between houses – whether by choice or force – is one of the biggest stresses of life.
In March, we had one of our ‘lockdown seminars’ centred on the idea of living in Dublin sustainably – particularly focused on the context of housing. This started a conversation on our challenges, hopes and visions in this area. There was interest from this to continue the conversation and understand more of the backdrop to housing in Ireland and what this means for us.
To take this forward, we are hosting another seminar – although open to people who didn’t attend the first one – called ‘Navigating the Housing Crisis’. We will have a conversation around what the housing crises means for us and long-term living in Dublin. There are many ways in which we could tackle this (and we may be able to look at things differently in further future seminars), but for now (with the caveat that we will see how things flow on the evening), we will focus on three main areas:
- Some stats and facts around the housing crises. We want to help people be more empowered with knowledge. I work on housing statistics at the Central Statistics Office and am currently doing a course in Housing Studies at the Institute of Public Administration. This doesn’t make me an expert by any means, but hopefully I may be able to share something useful and interesting
- Look at temptations of thinking within the area of housing and biblical counters to this. The Bible is full of so much wisdom, and we want to have a biblical view of housing distinct from the world’s view.
- Detail of a couple of government housing supports available. There are no perfect solutions, but these may be able to help people renting/wishing to buy.
I don’t want to give too much away in advance, so I will stop there, but I do hope that you will consider coming along. It is on 9th May at 5.40-6.40 on Zoom.
The Zoom details are:
- Link – https://hubspot.zoom.us/j/95955087702?pwd=V3Nkd2RsemdycmdTcjE5NmFLc2RIdz09
- Meeting ID – 959 5508 7702
- Passcode – 080584
Justin