FEASTA LAND & HOUSING GROUP

Rampant inflation in land and house prices has been a defining characteristic of Ireland's 'Tiger Economy'. This trend has in several ways been beneficial for the Government parties, for developers, landowners, mortgage lenders, estate agents, private sector landlords and many property owners. At the same time the younger first-time buyer, tenants and the poor have suffered. Many young families are now heavily indebted for cheaply built houses located far from their workplace and from public/community facilities. Tenants are also paying exorbitant rents to live near their college or place of employment. Though much has been written about the housing crisis our policy makers and mainstream commentators have little to offer in terms of solutions it would seem.

The Feasta housing/land group has been established by members determined to address the complex challenge of housing provision in Ireland. The group aims to apply insights from the new economics, including environment taxes, and to develop proposals for housing policies which are sustainable, viable and socially just.

Housing-related articles from this website:

Articles are ordered with the most recent ones first.

From Recession to Renewables November 2006.

by Richard Douthwaite

The notion that curbing CO2 emissions would damage economic growth has been used as an excuse from developed countries such as the USA not to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. However, the people of Austrian town Güssing are discovering firsthand that this couldn't be further from the truth.

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The Economic Challenge of Sustainability   August 2006.

by Richard Douthwaite and Emer Ó Siochrú

This paper, which was written for CORI Justice, gives an overview of Feasta's ideas about economic growth, money systems, peak oil, and the need for a land value tax and for citizen carbon quotas.

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Submission re Draft Guidelines for Development Plans   July 2006.

This was submitted by Feasta to the Irish Department of the Environment in response to its recent consultation call with regard to Development Plans. The Department's Draft Development Plan is available on their website, in pdf format, and can be downloaded from this page.

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The ENLIVEN Report October 2005.

The ENLIVEN project was undertaken by a partnership which was headed by Irish Rural Link, with Feasta as one of the contributors.

The project takes two small neighbouring communities in rural Ireland, chosen only because largish housing and other construction projects were being planned, and assesses their renewable energy potential. It then looks at how that potential can be realised in ways that would benefit everyone living in the communities at present and those who might move there in the future. The project's report is now available for download here.

Land Value Tax: Unfinished Business    November 2004.

by Emer Ó Siochrú

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This paper is reprinted, with permission, from the book A Fairer Tax System For A Fairer Ireland, published by the CORI Justice Commission. The book also contains papers by Tom Dunne and Richard Douthwaite. It can be downloaded in its entirety from the CORI website, in PDF format, at http://www.cori.ie/justice/publications/papers/A_Fairer_Tax_System.pdf.

Response to 'Sustainable Rural Housing: Consultation Draft Of Guidelines For Planning Authorities' issued by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government    5th May 2004.

Submission on Rural Housing To the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Local Government   6th November 2003.

From Before the Wells Run Dry, November 2003:

Moving towards zero-impact building materials

by Tom Woolley . Many of the'green' buildings being built at present aren't green at all. To stop using more resources than we can sustain, we really have to adopt different construction methods but even these should only be used if existing buildings cannot be adapted satisfactorily.

LAND: THE CLAIM OF THE COMMUNITY

This international conference was held at the Tara Towers Hotel, Booterstown, Dublin on 9th and 10th October 2003.

Conference briefing, prepared by Feasta together with the Henry George Foundation. The briefing examines the history of the Irish land question and its re-emergence in recent years.

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Pamphlet on land value taxation, prepared for the conference

On Recovering the Sacred Income

Transcript of the talk given at the conference by Fred Harrison, director of the Centre for Land Policy Studies in the UK

Business problems, land solutions: the case for land and tax reform

Transcript of the talk given at the conference by Albert Catterall, Head of Economics, British Retail Consortium

Congestion charges

Transcript of the talk given at the conference by Dave Wetzel, Vice-Chair of Transport for London UK

Submissions to the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution Concerning Property Rights

Submission from Feasta, 12 June 2003:

Submission from Tom Dunne, School of Real Estate and Construction Economics, Dublin Institute of Technology, 30 May 2003 (not a Feasta member):

Critique of Part V of the Irish Government's 2002 Planning and Development Act

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