The Government has been keen recently to highlight what it sees as progress in tackling the housing crisis, however the public are somewhat sceptical of these claims according to today’s Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll. Twice as many feel that the government is not making progress on housing as feel that they are making inroads into this complex issue – 64 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.
Notably, this negative view is held by a majority within all age cohorts. Almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of those aged under 35 disagree that progress is being made. While older voters are slightly less negative, it is still the majority view of the over-65 group with 51 per cent disagreeing that the Government is moving in the direction of solving the crisis.
As is standard for Irish Times/Ipsos B&A polls, interviewing took place in-person across all constituencies, covering urban and rural areas and with a nationally representative sample of 1,200 respondents participating in this poll. The recent poor weather conditions led to a longer fieldwork period than usual with interviewing for this latest poll was spread across five days, between January 30th and February 3rd.
While housing is clearly a preoccupation and source of frustration, one of the most striking features of today’s poll is that most people do not themselves feel personally affected by the housing crisis. Fewer than 1 in 3 – 29 per cent – feel the impact personally.
Not surprisingly the impact of the housing crisis is most pronounced for the younger generation struggling to get on the housing ladder and grappling with high rents. A majority of those aged under 35 (54 per cent) feel the personal impact. As we climb through the age ranges the immediacy lessens with only 8 per cent of those aged 65 or older feeling a personal impact.
Turning to potential solutions, today’s poll also finds support for radical action to speed up progress in tackling the housing crisis. A two-thirds majority (67 per cent) say they would be in favour of a right to housing being included in the Constitution if asked to vote in a referendum.
Support for a constitutional amendment is directly aligned with the perception that the Government is not making progress in solving the crisis. An amendment has majority support across all voter groups, peaking at 82 per cent of 25-to-34 year olds, and while older voters are not so keen on the idea, the proposal is still backed by a majority of all groups.
Beyond a constitutional right to housing, the poll tested other solutions with voters. The most popular of these was a desire for the government to build more social housing, even if there are local objections, with 81 per cent of voters in favour of this proposal.
While support for social housing is firm in the abstract, it would be reasonable to assume that enthusiasm would soften for developments that are in the respondent’s own ‘backyard’.
Also receiving majority support from the electorate was the suggestion to introduce measures that benefit landlords if they led to more houses and apartments being made available for rent, with 67 per cent of voters in favour of this suggestion.
How to house our growing population is much more than a political issue of the day. It is a strategic societal challenge and will remain so for some time to come. The solution will need to be driven from within politics and in this respect there is an appetite coming from voters for the government to tackle the issue with potentially radical solutions.
For more details and the full report or more information, please contact Kieran O’Leary, Director: kieran.oleary@ipsos.com
