"Ireland should end its obsession with home ownership and look at alternatives such as renting or leasing, a former housing adviser to Bill Clinton said today.
Speaking in Athlone today, Nic Retsinas, now a director at the Centre for Housing Studies at Harvard University, said in recent times homes had started to be viewed as an investment opportunity rather than a place to live and raise a family.
Mr Retsinas was addressing the biennial conference of the Irish Council for Social Housing.
“Over time a different vision crept in. There was conspicuous consumption and an environment of encouraging lending that wasn’t very prudent,” he said.
“People should not be obsessed with owning a property. Maybe the issue should not be about home ownership but about something such as making sure people live in decent homes,” he said."
A smart guy, pretty rare nowdays...and most probably he did not need any fund extorded, robbed from public funds...to come with this kind of analysis.
I keep the best for the end :
“Society almost demonised renting. You weren’t smart if you rented. But, as it turns out, those who rented could be said to be the smart ones now as property prices crash”, he said
We shall check that back in about 2-4 years time..nothing compare to a lifetime of being a borrower...
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