How about a new State agency with a large budget and extensive statutory powers, aimed at solving a big policy problem? Sounds decisive, the Government in action. But it all depends on how the problem is framed, how the agency is designed and how it executes its mission.

There have been successes and failures with this formula in Ireland and the latest, the Land Development Agency (LDA), may not deliver what it says on the tin.

In legislation already on the statute book, the objective is to mobilise the deployment of public land for public housing, with this formula identified by both Government and opposition as the critical weapon in fixing the housing crisis.

The construction of public housing on spare land belonging to the state sounds like an obvious move. There are long waiting lists for subsidised local authority housing and a whole generation of younger people feel hard done by, unable to buy at ridiculous prices, especially in and around Dublin, and screwed for exorbitant rents.

State bodies own lots of under-utilised land, so why not take it off them and build? The LDA is to have €2.5bn in State funds and powers to borrow the same again, for a total of €5bn, along with a mission to cajole, and possibly coerce, public bodies around the country to release land for housing.

With too few local authority units available and long waiting lists, the strategy cannot be accused of excessive complexity. A child could understand it. The trouble is that simple, one-shot, solutions to complex problems tend to disappoint. Not everyone wants a local authority house and the long waiting lists reflect the subsidised rents rather than an absence of demand for owner-occupancy.

Faced with rents of €400 and €500 per week for private accommodation in Dublin, even in suburbs well outside the central districts, only a mug would turn down a local authority tenancy at €100 per week or less. Since it is free to join the waiting list, tens of thousands do so, and not just in Dublin.

Income

The huge apparent requirement for public housing reflects the ridiculous prices and rents in the private sector. A first-time buyer in the Dublin area would need an income approaching €100,000 to secure a mortgage big enough to purchase in many parts of Dublin and the provincial cities are also too expensive. The problem is inadequate supply, constrained by dysfunctional planning over the last 30 or 40 years.

The derelict sites which are visible all around the central areas and inner suburbs of Dublin are not, in most cases, the property of the public sector.

Many are in the hands of unfortunate private developers prevented from building by nimby residents’ associations and the politicians, of all parties, who represent the current homeowners.

Nobody appears keen to represent those who would finance their own homes if the market were allowed to work.

The outer suburbs are ringed with rolling prairies of undeveloped land, sufficient to accommodate a new city, which does not belong to public authorities either. The “public housing on public land” mantra is a pretend solution to a problem which politicians are unwilling to acknowledge.

Despite plentiful availability of derelict land in Irish cities and their surrounds, prices are far higher than needs be. People are commuting long distances, in many cases through empty landscapes where their homes should be.

If the LDA is confined to building on land which happens to belong to public bodies, it will fail to develop many of the most suitable sites. Some of this is already in the hands of frustrated developers, and some is not zoned for residential use at all.

There needs to be a throughgoing reform of zoning and planning if nimbyism is to be defeated and housing made affordable. This would reduce the scarcity value of all urban and suburban sites, including those belonging to the State.

The agency will have to differentiate between land currently belonging to State bodies with a real need for space and underutilised land that should be re-deployed.

Until recently, the army had managed to retain Victorian barracks in various Irish cities and towns most of which have finally been re-developed.

The inner Dublin suburb of Rathmines, home to the huge Cathal Brugha barracks, has been garrisoned against insurrection by the natives since 1810, notwithstanding the departure of the crown forces 99 years ago. Rathmines is quite peaceful these days and it is time to beat a retreat.

Elsewhere in Dublin, the LDA reportedly has its eyes on lands belonging to Dublin Port. The city does not need to be garrisoned but it does need a port and space has already been sacrificed to Brexit facilities. Not all State agencies are hoarding land they can do without.