House of love, State of desperation - BY CAOILFHIONN Ní DHONNABHÁIN

RTÉ's new series, The House of Love, gives viewers a weekly reminder that there is an unprecedented housing crisis in the 26 Counties. This game show is based on the premise that, because of the housing crisis, an ordinary semi detached house in a housing estate in the Midlands has now become a much sought after commodity.

The programme feeds on the desperation that arises from the increasing inability of most working people to purchase a house as the average price of a new house exceeds €220,000 and the average price of a second hand house exceeds €260,000.

The context in which The House of Love is able to entice people to beg for an ordinary house affects virtually every family, a result of the failure of successive governments, and especially the current coalition government, to address the unacceptable escalation of house prices.

Much like the judges on the game show, who decide which couple is most deserving of the semi-detached house in Mullingar, the Minister of State with responsibility for housing Noel Ahern ponders upon who within our society is most deserving of housing assistance.

And just who does receive the support of the Minister of State and the government? Well, it isn't the first time buyers on average incomes who can't afford to buy a house, it isn't the homeless people on our streets, it isn't the people stuck in the private rented sector who are to be denied rent supplement, and it isn't the families stuck for years on local authority waiting lists. No, those who walk away with the prize from this government are the developers who won changes to Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, the investors who obtain tax breaks for investing in property and the speculators who are allowed sit on land banks around Dublin as the number of homeless in the city rises consistently.

Housing provision must be removed from the realm of charity. There must be a constitutional right to housing that forces social policy to be centred on delivering this basic right as opposed to the current situation where, like the contestant at the mercy of the judging panel on the game show, the delivery of adequate housing is left to the whim of politicians. A right to housing would oblige statutory bodies to provide adequate and appropriate housing for all of the people of the State and would ensure that a basic standard of housing provision would be upheld. It would also ensure that the voiceless and most marginalised within our society will not be penalised by their lack of political strength or representation. It would end the shameful situation where, out of desperation, young working couples compete on game shows for ordinary houses because they cannot hope to house themselves.