The current housing crisis is set to deepen and the present bias in housing policy in favour of owner occupation aggravates problems in the private rental and social housing sectors, according to a survey published yesterday.
The survey, "New Realities in Irish Housing: Housing Affordability and the Economy", was carried out by the Consultancy and Research Unit for the Built Environment (CRUBE) in the Dublin Institute of Technology.
Mr Daithi Downey, housing consultant and author of the report, said: "Housing policy into the next millennium must ensure greater housing tenure choice, not tighter housing tenure constraint."
Dr Brendan Williams, research director, CRUBE, said that in spite of recent policy changes, the housing crisis would deepen this autumn. "This is due to the lack of action in meeting rapidly rising demand for affordable accommodation, particularly in the rental sectors."
Previous forecasts of housing needs, according to the survey, were underestimated in the face of the strongest demand for private housing in home ownership and private renting since the 1970s.
Low-income families were increasingly being forced into substandard accommodation. At present, one-third of households in private renting were in receipt of social welfare rent allowance.
Mr John Ratcliffe, director of the faculty of the built environment, DIT, said the inescapable conclusion of the report was that attempts to influence affordability would ultimately be unsuccessful unless accompanied by a fundamental reappraisal.