New analysis from the Business Post has shown that the Irish Government is spending €11.8 billion to tackle the housing crisis through different programmes, tax incentives, and schemes.

This figure contrasts with the Department of Housing budget, €11.4 billion according to website ‘Where your money goes’, which has typically been used to represent state housing spend.

This comes as polls show that the ongoing housing crisis consistently ranks among the top of voters’ concerns.

On Newstalk Breakfast, Carol Tallan, CEO of Property District and author of Irish Property Buyers Handbook series, said this analysis was “a chronicle to waste.”

She said this spend comes as homelessness figures rise but that “the reality is we do need to spend that amount of money in tackling Ireland's housing crisis.”

However, Ms. Tallan argued that current spending policies are not going to tackle the Irish housing crisis and that it is “being wasted across bureaucratic delays [and] inefficiencies.”

Housing issues “could have been mitigated at source”

Ms. Tallan said that problems of “bureaucracy and delays” exist in the public sector, and that “huge levels of waste and inefficiency” are present across the approved housing bodies.

This contrasts with the private sector where risk is “the main killer of viability,” according to Ms. Tallan.

She argued that the opportunity arose during the financial crash to go back to “first principles,” which would have mitigated many issues “at source.”

Government 'only incentivising some' housing organisations

She said the analysis highlighted that the Irish Government is only incentivising certain aspects of the private sector, claiming that only 1% of housing delivery organisations are independent of Government.

“Only 1% of those [housing bodies delivering 300+ units per year] are accountable to shareholders as opposed to their local delivery partners.”

Ms. Tallan argued that independent private housing providers are able to shape governmental housing policy more than local authorities.

“We need our local authorities around the country to have more capacity and more autonomy”

Ms. Tallan claimed that the Irish housing system is witnessing “increasing centralisation,” and that local authorities need “more capacity and more autonomy” to address the housing crisis.

She also argued that increased decision-making powers and funding would address “some of the viability challenges that local home builders have.”