Ireland's Housing Crisis: Lack of Address Registration Hinders Solutions

Ireland's lack of a comprehensive address registration system, unlike many European countries, significantly impedes its ability to manage public services and address the ongoing housing crisis. This deficiency means authorities lack crucial data on housing stock usage, including student housing, holiday homes, short-term lets, and vacant properties.

In Germany, for instance, address registration is legally required within 14 days, with fines up to €1,000 for non-compliance. This registration is essential for accessing internet, electricity, and public healthcare. Other countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Poland, and Italy also maintain similar systems, finding them vital for efficient public service management and real-time demographic data.

Ireland's fragmented data on buildings and land leads to inefficiencies, with an estimated 73,000 homes missing from RTB registration. Existing efforts, such as the Derelict Sites Registers and the 2023 Vacant Home Tax, have been ineffective due to incomplete data and conflicting definitions of dereliction across different departments. The Vacant Home Tax, for example, reportedly cost more to implement than it collected, missing 97% of vacant homes.

Experts propose building on Revenue's existing Local Property Tax system. This would involve expanding current questions to register all residents, verifying private rentals via RTB, and classifying non-primary residences as holiday homes, short-term lets (with planning permission), or legitimately vacant. All uninhabitable homes should be legally deemed derelict, with amalgamated definitions and datasets. This expanded system, updated annually or within a month of status change, would enhance public service management and provide critical insights into housing demand, despite requiring ethical and privacy considerations.