Phoenix: Anti-social behaviour!

That Ireland is in the grips of a housing crisis is undeniable. For whatever reason, the system, public and private, seems unable to deliver sufficient private, social and affordable council houses and apartments to meet the needs of this country. 

A rapidly growing population and a general rise in demand, allied to rising land and construction costs, have put extraordinary pressure on rents and house prices. 

Last year only slightly over 30,000 units were constructed and it looks likely that the target of 41,000 for this year will not be met. 

Affordability issues are coming to the fore. First-time buyers need two household salaries, plus help from the bank of mum and dad, to get on the property ladder. 

The Irish desire to live in a two-storey semi with front and back garden, coupled with a distaste for apartment living, creates its own dynamic, increases sprawl, undermines urban centres and drives costs upwards.

There have been many recent national paper articles on the subject from high profile commentators, all offering their six pence worth as to how the problem might be solved. 

Economist David McWilliams has taken up the gauntlet in his Irish Times column. He is rightly fixated on the level of vacancy in urban areas, especially above retail units, and also the problem of dereliction and neglected property. 

He was incensed last week when part of a small terrace of Victorian cottages in the fashionable Ranelagh area of Dublin collapsed without warning recently. 

The fact that the property involved is owned by Ireland’s Construction Industry Federation contributed to the outrage. 

Mr McWilliams described neglected and unmaintained property as a type of antisocial behaviour carried out by well-off adults as distinct from the normal characterization of that by young hooligans. 

Regular readers will know that this column has criticised urban decay, neglect, dereliction and their first cousin, lack of investment, for as long as the column is in existence.

The impact of derelict property and a grotesque lack of private investment in the old city, on the city of Waterford, have been particularly hard. 

The local council has been to the fore with all manner of solutions to the housing problem and has been rightly recognised at national level for its efforts. 

For all that heroic effort, much remains to be done and the process to actually get things done sometimes seems to be glacial. 

Five or six or more years ago this paper reported on proposed infill houses on sites in Summerland Square, opposite the grotto, and on a surface car park opposite the Revenue Offices in The Glen. Neither, for whatever reason, has been built. 

These add to the problem of vitality and footfall in the older city. 

We cannot continue to decant people to new housing in Ballygunner, Ferrybank or Carrickphierish, while neglect, and especially private sector neglect, goes without comment in the historic city core. 

After all, centre city sites are already available, with all services immediately to hand.

Last week marked the beginning of a new era for our city with the new pedestrian bridge at the Clock Tower being put in place. This will open up the North Quays for housing and incorporate Ferrybank more effectively into the city centre. 

The estimated cost of the public infrastructure on the North Quays is around €200 million spread over five years. Everyone in council and Waterford politics, who worked so hard to achieve that investment, deserves to be congratulated. 

Without seeking to be underwhelming about the project, it must be said that this is what any government in a north-western European democracy would be expected to do. The reinvigoration of urban brownfield sites is crucial to maintaining the health and economic vitality of any city. 

When you see that the cost of a 2.7km cycleway from Clontarf into the centre of Dublin city was €68 million, you get context for our North Quays costs.

I am sure that the Dublin investment was desirable and welcome. The people of Waterford are not in the begrudgery business. We are in the equity and fairness business. 

We hope that our government shares that aspiration. 

Unfortunately, there is no apolitical project delivery in Ireland. Every bit of capital investment is part of the political process and our high-level influence has been quite poor. 

We have seen that with SETU, which has been starved of capital investment for 20 years in furtherance of political ambitions elsewhere in the south east and also in UHW, where capital investment has been hit and miss. 

€64 million, per the HSE, in the past five years is a paltry sum, €12.5 million per annum, in the context of what has gone elsewhere on Model 4 hospitals. This country spends €18 billion per annum on capital investment. Anything that comes to Waterford is very welcome and has to be fought for, but, in truth, spending here, as a share of what’s going, is very low.

The biggest remaining area of dereliction in Waterford city is the vacant Michael Street centre site. It covers New Street, Stephen Street, Back Lane and Browne’s Lane. It is awful. Hopes of redevelopment for retail failed to materialise. 

It would be a perfect site for a hotel, for student accommodation, which would depend on long-promised expansion at SETU, or also perfect for housing. 

Before that might happen, a master plan for the area should be in place. That did not happen in Penrose Lane and the results are all too clearly visible. 

It did not happen with the North Quays either, which resulted in public realm development and private development designs being somewhat out of sync. 

The latest Harcourt plans will hopefully unite the whole development with good quality apartments and access to public transport and add substantially to the vitality of the historic city centre.

The corollary is, though, that government and local council cannot be the developers of last resort for the city. The public sector in Waterford has been development averse for many years. 

Hopefully the magnificent glass factory offices building, developed by Noel Frisby, is an indication of future intent for all involved in local development. 

We must put dereliction, decay and low occupancy in the city centre behind us.