We can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good in solving our housing crisis
Every weapon in our armoury, including the private sector, must be used to build new homes, writes
THE housing crisis touches every family in the country. It reaches all generations, from young renters struggling to make ends meet and save for a deposit, to parents worried about their children’s prospects for the future and grandparents who have seen their families move away because they could not afford to live in the towns they were raised in.
Everyone has a stake in creating a housing system that builds secure homes and thriving communities that ordinary working families can afford to live in. It’s a crisis that demands immediate action — not empty promises.
My housing policy is shaped by the need for practical solutions to those hopes and fears by getting things done, not the silver bullet, overnight fantasies of some opposition TDs.
We can’t let ideology get in the way of pragmatic policies or let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Sadly, Sinn Féin and others are more interested in problems than solutions and put forward clown-car economic proposals such as 20,000 public homes to be built this year alone — without ever clarifying how, where or by whom they will be built, not to mention the closure of the construction sector due to the pandemic.
To help get bricks and mortar into the ground at affordable prices I have brought forward two major pieces of legislation backed up by the largest housing budget in the history of the State and our most ambitious social housing programme ever.
The Affordable Housing Bill and Land Development Agency (LDA) Bill will work together to form a major shift in our national housing policy.
The Affordable Housing Bill includes the first scheme of direct State-built affordable homes in over a decade, our first ever national cost rental scheme and an innovative new shared equity scheme.
Subject to Cabinet approval, it will also include an extension of Part V to a set 20pc in every local authority area, with a 10pc requirement for social homes and 1pc for affordable homes.
A historic new agency, the LDA, will be a driving force to deliver affordable homes at scale and ensure we don’t let State lands lie idle in the middle of an emergency.
The conversation around these pieces of legislation has zeroed in on the shared equity scheme. I welcome discussion of the idea, as any scheme worth its salt has to stand up to scrutiny and take on board constructive suggestions.
It will be a targeted, shortterm measure designed to help people buy homes this year and boost housing supply. There are planning permissions for over 40,000 units in Dublin alone, but commencements on sites have declined by 16pc and we need to activate these.
To directly address the concerns raised around potential price inflation we have put in place regional price caps. To put the scheme in context, it has been allocated €75m, or 2.3pc of our €3.3bn housing budget, or 0.68pc of the overall €11bn mortgage market. It is based on equity not debt, with no obligation to buy it out so it is not a second mortgage — and the macro-prudential rules are fully protected.
We are continuing to engage with the Central Bank on the scheme and Directorate General for Competition on State aid issues to ensure the scheme is fit for purpose.
The Dáil will debate the Affordable Housing Bill over the coming weeks. Sinn Féin will have the chance to put forward amendments at committee stage. If the party was interested in solutions, it would use that opportunity, instead it resorts to borderline hysteria, comparing the scheme to crack cocaine.
We need to use every weapon in our armoury to fight the housing crisis and this, of course, includes utilising the private sector. To be reliant solely on the public sector would be fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
The LDA has the potential to be a game-changer in making sure we use every acre of land owned by the State effectively. It will assess all
State land in our large towns and cities and where it’s needed, develop them for mainly affordable housing.
I have put affordability and local flexibility at the heart of the bill and that, rather than a ‘one-size-fits-all’, rigid approach, means the Government can respond to local affordability needs on an area-by-area basis.
I have also put in place changes to ensure it has Compulsory Purchase Order powers, is fully subject to FOI and completely accountable to the Oireachtas so that every cent spent matters.
No piece of legislation will keep everyone happy but this is a big leap in the right direction to shake our land system up and build affordable homes for purchase and rent at scale.
The core foundation of my policy is that I believe owning your home is good for individuals, good for families, communities and the State.
A person earning a decent wage should be able to buy their own home and the State should play a central role in supporting that aspiration.
The hopes of hard-pressed renters and worried parents and grandparents are dependent on it. These pieces of legislation are important and practical steps towards achieving that ambition.
‘Regional price caps aim to address price inflation fears’