The conversion of vacant office buildings to residential accommodation — which is being mooted as part of a Government plan to tackle the housing shortfall — can work. It has been facilitated in several countries, most notably in the United Kingdom and United States. It is usually incentivised by reducing or removing the need for planning permission to change the building's use from work to home, sometimes alongside ill-judged reductions in standards. Although theoretically a no-brainer — who could say no to re-using existing buildings? — like many ideas in housing, it is not quite as simple as it might look on paper.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/05/25/housing-crisis-despite-difficulties-empty-office-blocks-could-be-adapted-to-house-our-people/

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