DRUGS AND CRIME A RESULT OF POOR LIVING CONDITIONS

"HOUSES are built to live in more than to look on. Therefore let use
be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had." Francis
Bacon believed.

And there's no denying that houses are, first and foremost, homes,
places of safety, rest and renewal.

Although successive governments have routinely set great store by the
idea of secure inner city communities, whose contented high-rise
residents also have parks and playgrounds for their children, this is
still not the reality for all too many urban dwellers.

Their daily scenario involves drugs, abandoned syringes, lifts that
don't work and damp flats with no central heating. And problems with
sewage in these buildings are routine, as the waiting list for urgent
repairs grows to what social workers describe as nightmarish
proportions.

Little wonder then that in conditions such as these, drugs, crime and
despair are inextricably linked in a deadly, self-perpetuating cocktail.

The latest figures for the projected population of Dublin by 2011 is a
whopping 250,000. This increase will push numbers up to 1.65 million.
The area surveyed includes Naas, Navan and Wicklow, and these combined
figures indicate a 50% increase.

At the same time planners are wondering just what on earth to do about
these wildly escalating numbers, there's a growing sense of concern at
the flight from the land, as small farmers throw in the trowel and opt
for the early retirement scheme, or sell their holdings to those
looking for holiday homes.

A cohesive and equitable housing policy looks like being just as
difficult to achieve in the next millennium as it has been in this.

It is tempting, of course, to wonder why those responsible for shaping
housing policies simply match demand with availability, find out just
which urbanites want out, and would be willing to move to areas whose
populations are declining.

But it is not, of course, that simple. Even lower-income people can't
be moved about like pawns on a chess board, and not be expected to
complain. And not every former urbanite is able to make the transition.

Neither, for that matter, is the country cousin, who may end up
missing rural life despite all its difficulties.

As more small farmers seem set to leave the land, the need for a
cohesive housing policy is undeniably urgent.

For at the upper reaches of the housing market, the economic climate
is becoming increasingly rarified.

Recently, 15 homes sold for around the million pound mark, and estate
agents reckon that there are now hundreds of million pound homes in
the Dublin area.

And its not just the vast Georgian mansions so beloved of the super
rich. A 500 sq ft two bedroomed cottage in Naas sold for IEP129,000, a
result that the auctioneer described as "pleasantly
surprising."

Not, perhaps, quite so pleasant if you are a young married couple with
small children and a career. Or out of work, and dependent on
government benefits and rented accommodation.

The knock-on effects of such astronomical price hikes are legion and
affect everyone. And if predictions are true and we can no longer keep
them down on the farm, as then the situation is likely to become
considerably worse. It's not only housing which will be affected
either. There's the little matter of the traffic snarl-ups which daily
threaten to bring many cities to a gridlocked standstill.

To say nothing of antiquated sewage systems and overburdened landfill
sites which would be quite unable to withstand such increased demand.
Only a few years ago, the IEP1 million trophy home was unheard of.

Today however, as self-starters and high tech professionals search for
large and expensive houses, they are considered par for the course.

When Sorrento House sold effortlessly for IEP5.9 million last year,
records were broken and new standards set, as the super-rich proved
that they knew what they wanted and they weren't afraid to pay through
the nose for it either.

At the other end of the housing market, many people in inner city
areas, who were former slum dwellers and rehoused to high-rise
buildings in the 50s and 60s, are finding themselves on the move
again. For many of these buildings have proved to be impossible to
maintain and deeply unpopular with their alienated tenants.

Back-to-backs, outside toilets and the cramped conditions which
preceded the high rise, might seem positively Dickensian today. But at
least you knew and cared who your neighbour was .

Like the residents of Ballybrough who, after a year of protests, say
they've finally won the battle against drugs being openly traded on
the streets.

They've gone on to start an athletics club and reintroduced community
games in an area which hasn't known anything like it for 30 years.

Or Rural Resettlement Ireland, the only agency whose sole brief is the
revitalisation of the countryside. Since 1990, they've rehomed 356
urban families in rural communities.

An effective housing policy which avoids allowing parts of the West to
become depopulated, while at the same time, addressing the growing
need for affordable accommodation and better services for those who
live in built-up areas, would be a worthy tribute to the new millennium.

It would be a tangible indication that finally, we recognise the vital
importance of affordable housing for everyone.