Lecture 4: Unmaking Home: Making Homes for Shelter or for Investment?

Contribution to RTÉ Radio 'Davis Now' Lecture Series 2019 - Making Home. Why is homelessness so widespread when Ireland has never been wealthier? How did we build so much more social housing for low income households in the 1950s when Ireland was a much poorer country? Why can’t young couples who both earn good salaries afford to buy a house like families with just one salary could in the 1970s? In this lecture I endeavor to answer these questions by examining the history of Irish government intervention in the housing market since the start of the 20th Century. I also reflect on what this history reveals about the theme of this lecture series – making home.