FF-FG ‘do not get the scale of housing crisis’
And proposal on Sláintecare called ‘disappointing’
‘There is very little new in it’
HOUSING targets under the proposed programme for a new Government have been labelled as ‘unrealistic’ and failing to grasp the ‘depth of the housing crisis’.
The programme for government promises to deliver 50,000 social houses over five years, which is less than Fine Gael proposed in its manifesto.
Jim Power, economist with Friends First, warned that the private sector doesn’t have the capacity to deliver additional homes to meet demand in both social and private housing.
Mr Power warned that postCovid, financial resources would be ‘scarcer’.
And Sinn Féin spokesperson on housing Eoin Ó Broin said the housing crisis would continue under this government.
Mr Power said: ‘The view is probably that the private sector developers will deliver the private housing requirement. It is estimated that Ireland needs 45,000 houses per annum over the next five years to satisfy demand.
‘That’s about 225,000 houses to be delivered over the next five years. If 50,000 of that comes from social housing, I guess the private sector will be expected to deliver the rest – 35,000 a year.
‘Based on where we are at the moment it seems that it is very unrealistic. It strikes me that the building industry doesn’t have the capacity to deliver that.’
Mr Power said that there was hope that we may have more builders available for housing post-Covid.
‘It is certainly possible that due to more difficult economic times commercial development might slow down and I think roads and infrastructure development will slow down.
‘As a consequence of that, we will have a bit more capacity to deliver more housing. It would still be very, very challenging to deliver what is required over the next five years.’
He added he approved of the environmental policies in the document, which he said made sense, but warned that some of the transport projects such as the €3 billion-plus Metro Link may be ‘pushed down the road’.
‘The overriding concern is that the world post-Covid-19 is a very different world than pre-Covid19. By implication, financial resources are going to be scarcer.
There is no doubt about that.
‘I think it is highly unlikely that they are going to be able to complete the MetroLink. It is a massive capital expenditure project in the current environment.’
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Mr Ó Broin said that the housing policy in the document was ‘deeply, deeply disappointing’ and was actually a reduction in the amount of social houses Fine Gael proposed in its manifesto.
The lack of targets for affordable housing led Mr Ó Broin to believe that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil don’t understand the ‘depths of the housing crisis’.
‘I have to say, if this is what the incoming government is going to do on housing, we are set for the housing crisis to continue.
‘There is no increase on the delivery of social housing above what was already committed to in the national housing plan - 50,000 social homes over five years.
‘In fact, Fine Gael had proposed, in their election manifesto, a target of 60,000 social homes over the five years so they have actually reduced that in the programme they are signing up to.
‘Probably the most disappointing section is on affordable housing – there are targets, there are no definitions.’
As for the environment, climate expert John Sweeney said the deal ‘looks good’ and has a chance of ‘transforming’ the Irish economy into a much more climate friendly model.
However, he added that the ‘proof is in the pudding’ whether or not the policies are to be implemented.
He said that the key part of the Green policies was the new Climate Action Bill due to be introduced in the first 100 days of the potential new administration.
Meanwhile co-leader of the Social Democrats and one of the founders of Sláintecare, Róisín Shortall, called the Sláintecare part of the programme ‘disappointing’.
‘There is very little that is new in it,’ she said. ‘There is a reference to accelerating the implementation of Sláintecare but there is no detail at all on that in terms of timelines or funding.’
Ms Shortall warned that the lack of timelines in the document means the potential new administration doesn’t have to necessarily do ‘anything’ on Sláintecare.