No easy answer to one-off housing dilemma

In all my years away from home, perhaps the most consistent line of division between urban and rural Ireland has been on one-off houses.

People in the west know well the extent of opposition to such houses, but we consider it so normal and natural and really cannot understand why city folk are so against them.

Many city folk are more than happy to tell you all about what they call these one-off mansions they see whenever they are down the country. They don’t seem to notice the more modest houses so much. So whether they are purely against such ‘mansions’, or perhaps are reflecting that they might want one themselves, can be left to your mind to resolve.

Fair to say, any discussion on this topic between the differing points of view does not result in a meeting of minds.

The arguments on both sides are not new and have been well rehearsed over the years.

Those against one-off houses will talk of the effect on water quality. They will quote reports on the quality of the water in our rivers and lakes and tell you how much of that is due to septic tanks, though that’s far from the only reason we have a problem with our water.

They will talk of the unsustainability of one-off housing in terms of delivering services to places that are far from urban centres. They will talk about an ageing population and the challenges of living a distance from others, especially when mobility becomes more difficult. They will say that as services become more sophisticated and specialised, those problems become harder still. They will say that of course a house to sustain a family on the farm makes sense, but if you make your money away from the land, there is no need for you to be living in a house in the countryside. They will very definitely say that if you complain that small towns in rural Ireland are dying but your solution is to allow more people to live away from them, then that takes some explaining as a development strategy.

Those arguments reflect an urban mindset, which sees living in a one-off house as something historical, arising from the pattern of land distribution created by landlordism, and then left in place after landlordism collapsed. The argument goes that as we move away from that way of living, so the housing model in Ireland should change towards what are often described as European norms.

The proponents of one-off housing see all that differently. They say that this is how people have lived in rural Ireland, successfully and well, for a very long time - and so it should be supported and not dismantled. They say that the challenges arising are certainly real, but they are all surmountable, and nothing that technology and ingenuity can’t fix. In saying that, they will quickly point out that living in urban areas comes with challenges too, and they might even dryly point out that to their best of their knowledge not all of those problems have yet been solved to the satisfaction of those living in towns.

They will also say that just because you live a bit far away from a town should not determine whether you have a right to fundamental and basic services. They will point out that such a right is not a new thing, at least not since the universal cost of a postage stamp codified the idea of same service, same price, regardless of location. They will also say that rural living has something special about it, and that something special deserves protecting. They will also say, very simply, that they just like it. They will say that living away from others comes with advantages as well as disadvantages, and why should they have that choice taken away from them by people who simply think differently to them on the question.

These arguments reflect a view that living in the modern world does not mean we have to sacrifice entirely all of the more attractive aspects of the past, specifically those that come from living in a rural setting.

The arguments are not new but the stakes are certainly higher, the situation more serious. We all know that it has become harder to build one-off in recent years. You have probably heard that the Government is trying to make it easier to do so again, and that’s why all these arguments have resurfaced.

Everyone agrees that as a society we need to build more housing units. That is apartments yes, but also houses, and we need lots of them. You can study an economic, social and statistical map and it will tell you pretty precisely where we need those housing units and in what number and type. It is likely that such an analysis will not tell you that one-off houses are the answer.

But one-off houses are houses, and they are an answer for some people. Politically the move towards more one-off housing arises as a working through of the change in the political composition of the Government since the election – the Greens are out, and so rural Ireland has more say than before. And fair to say, people who can build their own one-off house are more likely than not to come from families who support the government parties. The hope of government politicians is that if this new generation can build their one-off house, they will then become supporters of those parties themselves, and indeed of those independents who support the government. That is certainly the way it has worked in the past.

But politics aside, the wider context is what is really driving this. We need to build - more houses and apartments, of any kind, anywhere. And so one-off houses have popped back up again on the agenda, and once again, they will divide opinion as they have done for decades.

What side you fall on this issue tells a lot about your wider views. And of course, it is also one of those issues where the head and the heart can say different things.