Ask how many ways a country needs to house its people, and the instinctive answer, in Ireland at least, is one: sure, you may have to rent for a while, or live with your parents for the first few years of your career, but then you buy. Renting is the waiting room; ownership is the destination. Social housing is the safety net for those who never make it through. But that is not how housing systems actually work, and it is not how the healthiest of them are designed. Every developed economy houses its people across three pillars: owner-occupation, private…

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