Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Vol. 1054 No. 4

Housing for All: Statements

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Darragh O'Brien)

I welcome the opportunity to provide Teachtaí with an update on housing and the Government’s progress since the publication of Housing for All back in September 2021, just over two and a half years ago. While challenges undoubtedly remain and we continue to operate in an ever-changing environment, real progress has been made. It is important to take time to reflect on this and today provides me with the perfect opportunity. It is also timely to discuss the conclusions and recommendations of the Housing Commission.

Under our programme for Government and Housing for All, we established the Housing Commission in 2021 to take a long-term strategic view of housing over an extended time horizon post 2030. We tasked the commission with examining issues such as tenure, standards, sustainability and quality-of-life issues in the provision of housing. I received the Housing Commission report, which was three years in the making, just 13 days ago. It was discussed at Cabinet this morning and I will publish it very shortly. I actually intend to publish it this week. I thank the commission members for their work, their efforts and their commitment to this process. I have engaged with the commission since I set it up in 2021.

Its work is integral to our Housing for All plan and it is important that, as part of the ongoing process, we continue to review new inputs into the plan. Like any plan worth its salt, it has in-built reviews and the Housing Commission report is part of that.

The majority of its recommendations are already in hand and build on the detailed plans we already have in place. Other aspects will require more detailed assessment. I will further analyse and assess the 300-plus page report, which covers almost three years of work by the commission, and ensure it is integrated, where appropriate, into our housing targets and action review over the summer.

Arís, tá sé tábhachtach a rá, go bhfuil an Rialtas ag athbhreithniú na spriocanna tithíochta. Agus an obair seo ar siúl, tá sé tábhachtach a chur in iúl gur sáraíodh na spriocanna foriomlána faoi Thithíocht do Chách sa dá bhliain ó seoladh é.

It is important to set the context of what we have achieved in Housing for All so far. Housing for All is the most ambitious housing plan in the history of the State. Housing has the potential to impact on every aspect of Irish society and that is why it is the highest priority of this Government. We continue to take a whole-of-government approach in developing and implementing our plan. We consider every element of the housing system, use every lever, continuously review and take an agile approach in order that we can accelerate and increase the supply and affordability of homes for our citizens. The plan sets out a series of bold actions to meet the housing challenges we face. It is backed up by record capital investment, with over €5 billion this year alone. The plan puts forward a vision that aims to ensure that people have access to sustainable, good-quality affordable housing to buy or rent while meeting the needs of the most vulnerable in our society through measures addressing homelessness.

The increasing number of new homes being built over the last couple of year show that Housing for All is working. Over 32,600 new homes were completed in 2023, 10% higher than in the previous year and the highest figure for 15 years. It exceeded the Housing for All target of 29,000 by almost 13%. We have seen an additional 5,841 homes already completed in the first quarter of this year. Twelve-month completions are up on last year, from 30,744 in quarter 1 of 2023 to 31,820 in quarter 1 of 2024. It is the third quarter in a row that the rolling 12-month completions have surpassed 31,000. The progress being made is reflected in the independent research being conducted. The BNP Paribas PMI construction report for April shows residential construction activity expanding for two successive months. It notes that residential construction, new orders, employment and purchasing all increased in April 2024. It is also worth noting that according to EUROCONSTRUCT, an independent construction market forecasting network active in 19 European countries, construction output in Ireland is forecast to grow by 4.4%, whereas it is expected to fall by 2.1% in other EU countries.

These trends are reflected in what we are seeing on the ground. There has been a strong level of commencement activity between January and April this year on the back of the Government’s waiver of development levies and Uisce Éireann connection fees. Construction has commenced on 53,000 homes this year to the end of April. That is approximately 350 units starting on site every working day so far this year. We expect to see many of these developments progress substantially over the next six to nine months. We may see a dip in future commencements in the short term as the focus shifts to progressing those newly started developments towards completion. Longer term delivery continues to trend positively. Planning permissions figures were strong last year. There were 41,225 permissions granted for new homes, an increase of 21% on 2022. The uplift in planning permissions, along with the considerable increase in commencements in the past 12 months, indicates a strong pipeline of new homes into 2025 and 2026.

Increased delivery of social housing is an absolute key to Housing for All objectives and it is supported through a range of funding streams. New build social home output is increasing year on year. Preliminary data is suggesting a similar increase in 2024. Almost 12,000 new social homes were delivered last year through a mix of new builds, acquisitions and leasing programmes. This was an increase of 16% on the previous year. It was the highest annual output of social homes in decades and the highest level of delivery of new-build social homes since 1975. All of these indicators show that the uplift in delivery seen in recent years will be sustained this year and built upon in subsequent years.

While homes are being built at record rates, we know that more is needed. It will take time for the measures set out in Housing for All to fully take effect but we are already seeing significant progress. There is no overnight fix to the issues we face, but the Housing for All plan is addressing the root cause of the problems. The Government is also acting decisively to expand the options for those currently facing affordability constraints in buying or renting a home, with an unprecedented level of financial commitment and delivery ambition. The affordable measures introduced by the Government will make, and are making, homeownership achievable for tens of thousands of individuals and families. They will also reduce the rental pressures on thousands of hard-pressed middle income earners. Short-term measures will support people immediately, allowing for longer-term measures to take hold. We have already seen a very substantial scale-up in this space. Over 4,000 housing supports were delivered last year via approved housing bodies, local authorities, the Land Development Agency, through the first home scheme, the cost rental tenant in situ scheme and the vacant property refurbishment grant. These figures represent an increase of 128% on 2022 activity, which highlights the significant progress achieved to date on affordable housing. I am projecting that we will exceed 6,000 affordable homes this year.

First-time buyer activity continues to go from strength to strength. More than 30,000 first-time buyers were approved for a mortgage in the 12 months to the end of March 2024, up 7.5% on the previous year. Home purchases by first-time buyers are up 5% year on year in the 12 months to the end of February, accounting for more than one third of total purchases by households. Mortgage drawdowns by first-time buyers also reached a new peak of almost 26,000 last year, the highest level since 2007.

Supports such as the help to buy scheme, the local authority home loan, the ready to build scheme and the first home shared equity scheme have been critical to ensuring access to affordable housing and to assist those aspiring to purchase their own homes. The level of demand under the first home scheme, with nearly 4,500 approvals to date, prompted the Government to invest a further €40 million, bringing the total investment to €240 million over the lifetime of the scheme. That was matched by the banks to give a total of €480 million invested through this scheme. In the first quarter of this year, there were 809 approvals and 262 homes purchased under the first home scheme, and approvals are up 38% compared with quarter 1 of 2023.

Housing for All’s focus on supply and affordability measures includes those in the rental market. There has been significant engagement with the sector as part of the review of the private rental sector which is due to be completed next month. Issues like rent controls and the regulatory environment are being assessed in detail. As the House will know, last week the Government agreed to extend the rent pressure zone, RPZ, rent restrictions into 2025. My aim is to support a private rental sector that is predictive rather than reactive, a sector that provides an efficient, affordable, safe and secure framework for landlords and tenants alike.

While supply is increasing, we know that challenges remain. Reducing and preventing homelessness remains a top priority for me as Minister and for this Government. Housing for All recognises the particular challenges of homelessness, for families and individuals alike. The homeless quarterly progress report published on Friday, 10 May showed that in quarter 1 of 2024 a total of 653 households exited emergency accommodation, an increase of 7% on quarter 4 of 2023, and an increase of nearly 20% on quarter 1 of 2023.

During the same period, 1,024 households were prevented from entering emergency accommodation by way of a tenancy being created. That is an increase of 60% on the first quarter of 2023.

Looking at the adult homelessness figures, we can see that between 2020 and 2023, 23,446 adults were either prevented from entering emergency accommodation or exited emergency accommodation into secure long-term accommodation. While exits and preventions are increasing, the only solution to resolving the current housing crisis is to increase the supply of social, affordable and private housing. To ensure that this happens, the Government has taken clear and decisive actions to help close the viability gap and reduce construction costs.

Last month I announced an extension of the temporary waiving of local authority development contributions and Uisce Éireann connection charges. The temporary time-limited nature of the waiver and refund schemes have undoubtedly been a factor in influencing the speedier activation of planning permissions by the development sector since they were introduced last year. That is a cost reduction measure and also an activation measure that was sorely and badly needed. We have had over 18,000 commencements in April alone. It shows what an initiative like this can do to stimulate construction. The exemption, along with other measures introduced by the Government, assists in enhancing the viability of developments and incentivising the bringing forward of developments that might not otherwise have been financially viable.

Measures such as the secure tenancy affordable rental, STAR, investment scheme will ensure thousands of cost-rental homes are delivered by 2027. STAR is specifically designed to support the development of cost-rental homes and activate uncommenced sites. In 2023, I approved just short of €60 million to support the delivery of 426 additional cost-rental units, and we continue to look for further opportunities. Cost rental is a tenure that did not exist two years ago but this House legislated for it and now we have thousands of tenancies approved, with thousands of tenants in place. We intend to accelerate that through the AHBs, the private sector and the local authorities and the LDA.

The Project Tosaigh initiative has facilitated the LDA to partner with developers to ensure that delayed or otherwise unviable projects are completed. These homes are made available to tenants and purchasers at affordable rates. The LDA will deliver 5,000 homes under the scheme by 2026. This is in addition to the agency’s pipeline on State-owned or acquired land, where it has a number of projects already under construction.

The Croí Cónaithe cities scheme, introduced to address the current viability gap between the cost of building apartments and the market sale price, is expected to deliver up to 5,000 owner-occupier apartments in urban centres. This will support compact growth and vibrant, liveable cities. Five contracts have been signed to date. That is almost 600 apartments that will be delivered under the scheme, including a 274-unit development in Cork city, the largest private sector apartment development there for over a decade. I want to make sure that we have mixed tenure across our cities and apartments in order that we have affordable, cost-rental and social, as well as private apartments for sale for owner-occupiers.

Supply is key, but Housing for All is not just about delivering the necessary homes for social, affordable and private housing. It is also about setting out pathways to economic, societal and environmental sustainability in the delivery of housing. The plan will ensure that we achieve a more sustainable housing system that is fit for purpose and that will create long-term, vibrant communities with the necessary supporting infrastructure.

As Members are aware, significant work has been conducted to reform our planning system. The largest review of the planning system in more than 20 years culminated in the Planning and Development Bill 2023, which will go to Report Stage in Dáil Éireann next month. When enacted, it will provide a new and updated legislative framework for proper spatial planning and sustainable development across the State. It will ensure that the planning system functions to support and regulate the development of land and infrastructure, enhance natural assets and amenities, and preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment. It will ensure transparent and timely decision-making within the framework of policy, strategies, plans and consents. This will give stability and certainty to all stakeholders while balancing public policy objectives, environmental considerations and public participation. This Bill will be the cornerstone of Irish planning for decades to come.

The revision of the national planning framework, NPF, has commenced. It is intended that the first draft of the revision will be published in June, followed by a period of consultation before its final publication in September. The revised national planning framework will consider climate transition, demographic change and the implications for future population projections and structural housing demand. The revised NPF, which will be available in the autumn, will update our housing targets. It will be underpinned by a robust evidence base and will take account of up-to-date population numbers and projections. These will allow us to further plan housing delivery in the period to 2030.

Housing for All is a plan that lives up to its name. The trend of increased commencement and completions is proof that the plan is building and sustaining momentum. While the figures show that progress is happening and the plan is having a real effect, we know there is a lot more to do. We will continue doing everything in our power to increase affordability, improve the rental market, eradicate homelessness and fix the housing system for the generations to come.

In conclusion I will touch on the area of vacancy. We have seen a very significant take-up of the vacant homes grant, the Croí Cónaithe grants, with nearly 8,000 applications across the country. I have visited many of these homes. This scheme gives an opportunity for homeowners to buy good properties and bring them back into use, with the State providing up to €70,000 in grants through this scheme alone, while the homeowner is also able to access the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, grant. I believe there is much further potential in bringing back vacant homes into use. Our local authorities are doing that extremely well, with 8,500 vacant social homes brought back into use. Most important, they are looking at bringing other significant buildings in towns, villages and cities across the country back into use through the buy-and-renew scheme and the repair-and-lease scheme, which we fully support as well.

I saw significant work being done in Carlow just last week, as it is right across the county. More than 90 homes are being repurposed and brought back into use in Carlow alone. There are repurposed old commercial buildings and significant buildings in the middle of towns that are being brought back into social housing use. Undoubtedly, significant progress has been made. We will continue to build on that progress because we have a plan and it is not only published; we are working on it and it is being implemented and it is fully supported through Exchequer funding and Government commitments.

I will touch on two matters relating to defects. As regards apartment defects, we will start with our first four pathfinder schemes very shortly. We are also seeing increased applications to the defective concrete block scheme. These are two very firm commitments the Government made to step in when there was a market failure. It did so not only to get homes back together and remediated but also to help to get people's lives back together. We are seeing an acceleration of applications across affected counties. I recently added County Sligo to the defective concrete blocks scheme. I look forward to the commencement of work on the pathfinder projects on apartment defects because there are legacy issues that need to be dealt with while we are increasing supply. There have been 110,000 new homes built in this country since this Government came into office.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

It must be hard for the Minister not to understand why, despite all of the evidence that his plan is allegedly working, pretty much everybody else does not accept that is the case. While week after week the Minister dismisses those of us in the Opposition who highlight the lived reality of people unable to access secure and affordable homes, it will be virtually impossible for the Minister to dismiss the views of his own Housing Commission. I suspect that when the report landed on his desk, as it did on 8 May, according to the Taoiseach, the Minister's heart sank because as he delved into the report he realised not only was the commission setting out what needs to be done in the future - much of which is very interesting - it was landing a devastating blow on the failure of his policy and the policy of the Government he previously supported through the confidence and supply arrangement.

Let me summarise and put on the record of the Dáil what the Housing Commission is actually saying. In its overview, it states that housing must be a unique national priority supporting social cohesion and economic development. It says that Ireland has an opportunity to change policy and improve the lives of citizens and residents right across the country. Arising from its wide-ranging inquiry, the Housing Commission has identified that over several decades there have been a range of interventions to do with housing but these interventions have not resolved failures that are fundamentally systemic.

The report states this must be addressed. The commission's work has identified ineffective decision-making and reactive policy-making where risk aversion dominates as core issues. It states these issues, together with external influences impacting housing dynamics, contribute to the volatility in supply, undermining affordability in the housing system. Should these issues persist, there will continue to be insufficient progress on the issues our society faces. The report adds that the problems have arisen due to the failure to successfully treat housing as a critical social and economic priority, as evident in a lack of consistency in housing policy. It goes on to state that inconsistency undermines confidence.

The commission report states, "as a consequence of policy failures Ireland in comparison with European partners has one of the highest levels of public expenditure on housing but one of the poorest outcomes". It claims there are, however, clear solutions if there is a commitment to address these issues. It goes on to say – this is the real sucker punch for the Minister – that only a radical strategic reset of housing policy will work. A major issue of concern to the commission is Ireland's housing deficit. It believes it is critical that this housing deficit be addressed through emergency action and that there is a need for a step-change increase in the level of housing supply on an ongoing basis. The report also states there should be a targeted increase in the proportion of social and cost-rental housing to 20% of the national stock.

What is really interesting about this report is the significance it attaches to the housing deficit. The Minister knows this because, in the year he produced his housing plan, there were discussions between him and his officials on what would be in it. There was to be an attempt to meet future housing needs arising from population growth and inward migration, but the Minister was told there was a need to deal with pent-up unmet demand in our housing system. However, he refused to allow the ESRI to examine that matter, so its baseline study, which underpinned his own housing targets, did not include the crucial figure in this regard. Despite the fact that it wanted to examine the matter, it was prevented from doing so.

This issue of a housing deficit is not new. The Minister knew about it but refused to include it in his plan. Today, his independent housing commission is reminding him not only that it exists but also that the scale of the deficit is somewhere in the region of 256,000 homes. You really have to scratch your head over the question of what Minister would refuse to allow independent advice to inform his own housing plan.

I am delighted the Minister is going to publish the report. Had it not been leaked to RTÉ, he would not be launching it-----

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

This week.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

This week. Apologies. He might as well launch it today. Let us be very clear: if RTÉ had not leaked it today, the Minister would not be publishing this week. How do we know? It is because he got a report on the right to housing from the Housing Commission last August and buried it. It was nowhere near as devastating as this one. I suspect that the Minister was hoping he could sit on this report, get to the other side of the local elections and possibly up to the budget without it ever seeing the light of day.

Deputy David Cullinane

Hear, hear.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

I challenge the Minister to publish it tomorrow. He should put it in the public domain tomorrow and then provide Government time next week for us to have a proper debate on it.

Let us examine the Minister's plan. He says his targets are being met; however, if the targets are deliberately designed to be so low, ignoring the deficit that has existed, it is hardly surprising he is meeting them. The Minister and the Taoiseach said today that the Government is going to increase the targets. This is too little too late; the targets should have been the right ones from the outset.

What is also important is that for every single programme the Minister is directly responsible for, he has missed his targets. More than 9,000 new-build social homes that he promised have not been built. That is more than the total number of households currently in emergency accommodation funded by the Department. If the Government had kept its promise regarding the homes, many of the families and single people in emergency accommodation would not be homeless and the numbers would be falling.

The Minister says he has made progress on delivering affordable homes. He was 52% shy of his target for 2022 and 61% shy last year. There are paltry numbers: just over 1,000 two years ago and fewer than 1,500 last year. What is worse is the price. Can anybody guess the all-in cost to the purchaser of one of the Minister's affordable homes in a Government-funded affordable housing scheme in his constituency? According to Fingal County Council, it is €565,000. That is assuming house prices do not increase; if they do, the homeowners or their children will be paying even more.

What about the Minister's cost-rental homes? To correct the Minister, cost-rental homes existed in the founding decade of the State. What the current Government has done is take an eminently sensible concept and mangled it beyond belief. How do we know? With regard to the Land Development Agency, the rent for a one-bed unit in my constituency is €1,400. That is more than the rent for an existing renter. What is the rent for a three-bed unit? It is almost €1,800 per month. The Minister's cost-rental units are more expensive than the rents being paid by many of us living in the private rental sector. That is not progress.

Let us deal with private homeownership. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael love to tell us they are the parties of homeownership. Nothing could be further from the truth. Last year, approximately 8,500 new-build homes went on the market for people to buy. That is fewer than the year before and almost the same as in 2019. Admittedly, new-build output is increasing, but year on year an ever-growing number of new builds are going to expensive build-to-rent institutional investors, crippling working people with high rents and making them unable to save for a mortgage. The Minister stated 500 first-time buyers are drawing down a mortgage each week – that is the figure from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland – but the vast majority of those buying second-hand homes, even with the inflationary subsidies, cannot buy new homes. They are buying those second-hand homes farther and farther from where they live and work and where their children go to school. What is the Government imposing on them? It is imposing on them huge commutes, entailing additional financial burdens, not to mention environmental burdens.

The problem is this: while the Minister talks about commencements, the number of completions is down. In the first quarter of this year, the number of completions was down 12% by comparison with the same quarter last year. People live in completed homes, not commencement certificates. In Dublin, new home completions are down 25% and apartment completions are down 32%. The Minister is right that the number of completion certificates has increased. I suspect that many of the developments will not actually commence and that many of the projects will take two years plus to complete, which is no consolation to the people in acute need.

The Minister's greatest legacy is probably homelessness. He will be remembered as the Minister for homelessness. Month after month, the number of adults, children, pensioners and families in emergency accommodation has increased. Coming in here and telling us week after week and month after month that addressing the problem is his number one priority when everything he does is making the homelessness crisis worse is a sad joke. There are alternatives, which we have outlined time and again. The Housing Commission has outlined them. What we need is a radical reset of housing policy. We will not get that from this Government and that is why we need an election, a change of Government and a Sinn Féin housing plan that will deliver the radical policy reset.

Deputy David Cullinane

Hear, hear.

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

We have a perfect storm in housing, particularly in north Donegal. Issues arise owing to the cost of rent and the cost of new homes, but when you throw in concrete blocks it really is a perfect storm. There are several factors, including the fact that many people cannot sell the houses they are in. Donegal County Council cannot purchase homes because they have defective concrete blocks and are subject to tests, freezing the housing market. I am referring to the existing houses. Rents are increasing year after year. The most recent figure is 13.3%. I estimate that the cost of rent for families and others in Donegal has doubled in the past five years. This has disastrous consequences.

On the cost of new homes, a family seeking to purchase a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Donegal's main town, Letterkenny, would have to pay about €360,000 or €370,000 to €400,000.

That is the price for what we would have called a starter home back in the day. It has no relationship with what people earn. Earlier today, I spoke to a private developer in Donegal. He told me he would not go ahead with a private development in Donegal because he would be unable to sell the houses. There is no relationship between what he would charge and people's earnings.

With all that in mind, how is it that the Government has not rolled out an affordable housing scheme anywhere in Donegal? To meet the crazy criteria of the Department, Donegal County Council has to undertake a survey to see if there is demand. A blind man or woman could see there is clearly demand for affordable housing in Donegal. Look at the level of emigration among young people. I appeal directly to the Minister to talk to his officials to see how on earth and how in the name of God they are blocking the development of affordable housing on publicly owned land in Donegal.

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh

What the Housing Commission report states is that we do not need more of the same. While the Minister and the Government continue with the back-slapping, I want to explain why their housing plan is not working in Mayo. Last year, less than half of the target for newly built social and affordable housing in Mayo was delivered. That has devastating consequences for the county. A woman with spina bifida and other health issues is living in her mother's house in Ballinrobe. She is forced, along with her partner and their two-year-old son, to live in her mother's sitting room because there are four others in a three-bedroom house. All are sharing communal areas that include one bathroom and one kitchen. The family has been on the Mayo County Council housing list, as an emergency case, for the past two years.

Another woman and her adult son, who has severe autism, have the support of a multidisciplinary HSE team but have no space in their council property for this young man. They have no space to give him the treatment. There are four children in the house. The reality is that the young man cannot receive the services he needs as the home is not suitable. The HSE has advised that the young man and his family are a high priority for rehousing and yet they have waited for five years. We are dealing with the scars of the housing crisis in Mayo. We need positive change,and a Sinn Féin Government to deliver it.

My colleague Deputy Mac Lochlainn talked about the defective block scheme. The Minister must not have listened to us in committee in recent weeks as we examined the issue. There are enormous gaps even as the Minister tells the people affected that 100% redress is available. It is nowhere near 100% redress. People cannot afford to get onto the scheme. There are gaps of €100,000 or more that people cannot fulfil. Nobody could answer my question as to whether people should go ahead and rebuild their houses without having the foundations tested. There is no funding whatsoever for foundations. Time and again, we have given the Minister the solutions required to amend the scheme to make it affordable and accessible for everybody but he is not listening. I plead with him again to please listen. The solutions have come from the homeowners in Mayo, Donegal and the other impacted counties.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

I welcome the opportunity to debate Housing for All. When it comes to housing as a public good, we in the Labour Party believe in three pillars for a housing system that works for all. The first is social and affordable housing. The second is security of tenure for renters. The third is a more ambitious home-building programme. For us, the marker of the Government's Housing for All policy - its success or failure - is whether is strives to achieve those three aims and, of course, whether it succeeds in achieving them. The Government has failed that test. That is not just our view. Leaked excerpts from the Housing Commission report reference fundamental systemic failure and the need for a radical strategic reset in Government policy on housing. I was glad to hear the Minister's commitment to publishing the report in full this week. That is welcome. So many excerpts are being leaked that the report should be published today. I am also glad that the Taoiseach agreed, in response to questions I asked earlier, to a debate on the report in this House. That is also essential. We are concerned as to whether it would have been published by the Government had it not been leaked. The Minister said he has only had the report since 8 May but the question is whether it would have been published in advance of the local and European elections on 7 June. In any case, we welcome that it will be published this week.

We acknowledge schemes which have provided much-needed support for those looking to own their own homes. I want to be fair and acknowledge where progress has been made. It would not be fair to fail to acknowledge progress in some areas of housing policy. However, the reality is that large swathes of the population are still locked out of decent and affordable homes. We all meet on a daily basis those who are locked out of both homeownership and the opportunity of renting safe and secure homes. I meet constituents and people from across the country every day who are unable to secure a home of their own and who are still living in their childhood bedrooms. In some cases, three generations are living under one roof and crammed into unsuitable homes because they cannot afford to move out of the family home.

One woman I met last week told me that her daughter and her children are living in the house with her and her husband. She told me of the family friction caused where there is inadequate space and that is replicated across the country, as we know. That is why a lack of access to secure and affordable homes consistently remains the number one issue of concern for people. We have seen that in consecutive polls. Last spring's Eurobarometer reported that 61% of people in Ireland think housing is one of the top two issues facing the country, compared with an EU average of 10%. We know that not enough homes are being built. Compulsory purchase by local authorities to tackle vacancy is far too slow. I submitted amendments to the planning Bill, as the Minister knows, to try to address that issue. We welcome the Development Agency being more fully capitalised but we are still waiting for it to fulfil its targets. We want it to be transformed into a State construction company that can provide decent homes at scale.

Nearly three years into Housing for All, where are we? Notwithstanding the positive indications the Minister has given, the reality is that by many metrics the policy is failing. There has been a 63.6% increase, for example, in the numbers accessing emergency accommodation since Housing for All was launched in September 2021. More than 4,000 children are now in homelessness. Rents have shot up by 21% and house prices have risen by the same amount while wages have increased by only 10% in the same period. Evictions are up. Almost 20,000 notices to quit were served last year. On many measures and by so many indicators, the Minister's policy is failing.

I will turn briefly to the three core pillars I mentioned and talk about how Housing for All is failing on those too. On affordable housing, the first of our three pillars, the Government again missed its social and affordable housing delivery targets in 2023. Just 499 affordable purchase homes and 966 cost-rental homes were delivered. The Government fell short by more than 1,000 of its target of 5,500. There have been delays in delivery. I think of the Poolbeg site in my constituency which should by now have delivered 3,500 homes. Construction has started, which is welcome, but there have been so many delays in delivery. The Government has fallen short of its target for couples and individuals availing of the first home scheme. It has ignored the issue of affordability. Others have given examples, but let us take the example of a three-bed apartment in Citywest. Applicants for cost rental would still have to pay €1,750 per month for that apartment. That is not affordable. Given that cost renters can pay no more than 35% of their net income on rent, a minimum household net income of €60,000 per year would be required for that apartment. It is hard to see how these homes are affordable.

That highlights two key problems. The first is that the cost of building homes remains too high. The second is that cost rental figures are based on the inflated prices of a dysfunctional rental market rather than on genuine affordability for average earners. We need a new model of housing delivery. We need a radical reset to bring down construction prices, to bring down prices for purchase and rental for households and to ensure genuine affordability. Our Bill from 2021 to implement the Kenny report would represent a major step towards stabilising house prices but we have not seen take-up by Government on that.

I will turn to the second pillar, which relates to renters. Clearly absent from Housing for All is any meaningful protection for renters. I again appeal to the Minister to make progress with the Labour Party's renters' rights Bill from 2021, which the Government did not oppose, so we can see genuine protections for renters and affordable rents become the norm, as in other jurisdictions.

I will finish by referring to the urgent need to increase home building targets. Members of the House are familiar with the call I made last year for a ten-year plan and a more ambitious plan to deliver 1 million homes: 50,000 new builds and 50,000 deep retrofit of derelict and vacant homes per year. The Taoiseach agreed today these targets match the ambition needed to address the housing crisis and the housing disaster. We need to see these revised-upwards targets published without further delay. I appeal to the Minister that we see revised targets published and more genuine urgency from the Government in addressing the housing emergency.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy Murnane O'Connor is down as sharing time but she is on her own for the moment.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor

Okay, that is fine. Thank you. I thank the Minister for coming to Carlow last week. Carlow is one of many rural towns and counties where I always say that while we always need more housing, we are doing very well. It is always important we recognise the work that has been done. We have seen it in the past four years of the Government. More houses have been built than in the previous nine years combined. I know the Minister's priority is and always will be housing for those on low and moderate incomes and people who need the affordable housing scheme, the help to buy scheme, the first home scheme and the property refurbishment scheme.

I know many families in my area are delighted with what they have got. I have been working with Carlow County Council, which I must praise. Families are happy. I always say we need a lot more but at least the Minister is making the changes. I know there have been challenges and we need to do more, but the Minister has been working very hard to make these changes. We see 12,000 units of social housing provided last year alone, but again, we need more.

I want to speak today about an area I believe we need to look at. I will speak about one case I am working on at present and it is very close to my heart. It is the case of lady who was born and bred in Carlow and who has worked all her life. Three years ago she had the most beautiful baby girl. The baby girl was born ten weeks premature with Down's syndrome, chronic lung disease, PVL from a bleed on her brain and she has some heart complications. Unfortunately, Irene - who said I could use her name - worked and did not qualify to go on the housing list, but a few months after her beautiful baby girl was born, she began working part-time for two days a week. This meant that a few months ago she qualified to go on Carlow County Council's housing list. I work on many cases. This little girl has six nurses a week supporting the mother. They also work with Jack and Jill Children's Foundation. This little girl, who is beautiful, has oxygen with her full time. The mother is with her baby in a sitting room on a couch and the child has so many medical needs that one little room is full of her medicinal products. We have looked and we cannot get Irene HAP. We have tried but because she is working part-time, it is not possible. As the Minister knows, it is very difficult to get a rental property. I have contacted Carlow County Council on several occasions. The Minister knows I work very well with Carlow County Council. It is telling me that Irene cannot be housed as a priority because such a priority does not exist.

I have to say I have dealt with many cases where children are sick but in this case six nurses a week are helping the mother. Like previous speakers, I ask whether the Minister can prioritise a child who is sick. Thank God she is doing well. When she was born, she was called the miracle baby. She is known everywhere as the miracle baby. The mother is so proud of her, as is the family. I need to get this little girl housed. We cannot put this mother and daughter into emergency accommodation because she is vulnerable. We cannot put her somewhere where she might pick up something. Can we start prioritising and looking at this? I sent the Minister an email today and I know he will deal with it because I know how hard he works.

Another area I want to ask about is with regard to cancer patients, some of whom I am working with at the moment. The Minister has provided Carlow County Council with five extra housing staff and I thank him for this but, as with all local authorities and I have said this to the Minister over and over, Carlow County Council needs more staffing. When people apply to go on the housing list, it can take up to eight to ten weeks. As I have said with regard to cancer patients, we need to start prioritising people who need to be on the housing list and who might need more support. This is very important. I work with Carlow County Council and the staff there and I compliment them on the work they do. While there needs to be change in prioritisation and how we do it overall, it is important to say we would not meet better staff. I know they are under pressure.

It was very important that the Minister met our firefighters when he was in Carlow. He has extended the age of retirement from 60 to 62. People would have had to retire from Carlow fire service at the age of 60 but this has been changed to 62. One particular man shook the Minister's hand and told him he had the two extra years. Of course there are stipulations whereby people must be fit, do their tests and qualify, but extending it was a boost for firefighters throughout the country. They can extend their time once they are fit and able to work to 62. This is the work being done that people do not realise. I thank the Minister and I will send him details of the cases I mentioned.

Deputy Robert Troy

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. There is no doubt of his commitment to this area. He has secured the largest ever annual housing budget. This proves his commitment and that of the Government to tackling housing. As he said, we have the highest number of local authority houses built since 1975 and the highest number of completions in almost two decades. We have introduced schemes to help people secure their homes, such as the extension of the help to buy scheme, the first home scheme, the affordable housing scheme and the derelict and vacant grant schemes, to name a few.

I want to use my time to speak about the rigidity of certain schemes. I am told by council officials who want to do more to help the people they are in a position to help that they are curtailed by the schemes. I know the Minister does not want this to be the case. We need senior officials in the Department to meet senior officials at local authority level to reassure them on what exactly can be done. If greater flexibility is needed, it must be introduced. People who are appointed to make decisions must be given the lead, authority and backing to make those decisions.

It is well known that I am in receipt of HAP. I will not speak about myself, and I never did in any contribution I have made in the Dáil. The rates are not reflective of the market rates today. I have the case of a woman who has been living in emergency accommodation in Athlone for 18 months following the need to leave her family home as a result of domestic abuse. She was told by Westmeath County Council to find her own rental property, which she did at a cost of €1,000 per month. The council refused to sanction HAP for this lady because it was €50 over the limit. This was last April 2023, and 14 months later she is still living in emergency accommodation because the local authority would not sanction €50 over the HAP limit. Coincidentally, she texted me today to ask what on earth is going on. She stated that she honestly does not think she can take this any more. This is a lady being told she is a top priority by the officials in Westmeath County Council who refused her HAP for the sake of €50.

The Minister needs to confirm to the local authorities they have to pay market value for the tenant in situ scheme or landlords will not sell. This will result in people returning to the housing list looking for rentals which are not there, having to avail of HAP limits which are not reflective of market rates at present, or waiting for new builds which will be more expensive than buying the house they are in at present.

The decision not to purchase is a poor one from a social perspective, taking people out of their own communities, and it is a poor economic decision also. Westmeath local authority is also refusing to purchase homes if there is any relationship between the tenant and the landlord, despite the fact the State has been paying rent assistance for these properties, in some cases for years. I do not understand the rationale.

I welcome turnkey developments. They are a fast, efficient way to provide social homes. When developers are given a contract, given certainty to provide a number of houses, a guaranteed price and staged payments, why are we facilitating a delay in those developments being handed over? I can identify four turnkey developments in Mullingar where the developers have not fulfilled their obligation. Developers should be penalised if they are not meeting their contractual obligations and delivering houses in a timely way. They are getting certainty in price and staged payments, so that is the least they should be able to do.

On mortgage to rent, property values have increased and therefore the criteria by which mortgage to rent applications are assessed are outdated. I am aware of a case in Mullingar involving marital breakdown. Because of a court order, the house must be sold. The mother, whose only income is invalidity pension, has three children. Two of those children have autism. The council has said it has no mechanism by which it can purchase the house. The Minister's office, which is always extremely helpful, has said the council can purchase the house. The Minister's senior officials need to meet with the senior officials in the council. They want that lady to go onto the housing list, which she is on, wait until the house is sold, then look for HAP and they might put her in a house at some stage in the future. A woman whose marriage has broken down and who is dealing with two autistic children is being put to that challenge. It does not make social sense and it certainly does not make economic sense.

The help to buy scheme is a great scheme. I can understand why the loan-to-value was introduced at 70%. However, I am aware of a case in Westmeath where a mortgage was approved but subsequently reduced because the family had an additional child. Because of the additional child, the financial institution reduced their mortgage so the loan-to-value went out of sync with the requirements of the scheme. The family has been approved for a lesser mortgage by the financial institution and cannot now avail of the help to buy scheme so they are down €30,000. Flexibility in our schemes is needed. If the Minister takes anything from my contribution today, I hope he takes that. I hope he will arrange a meeting between senior officials in his Department and the local authorities to ensure flexibility can be introduced.

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy Chris Andrews is sharing time with Deputy David Cullinane.

Deputy Chris Andrews

Housing for All - as far as residents in Ringsend and Irishtown are concerned, there is only housing for the very wealthy and the vulture funds. The vast majority of homes on the Irish Glass Bottle site will not be for working families from Pearse Street and Ringsend. A deal was done with the Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group seven years ago for social and affordable homes but there is little or no clarity. There are to be 3,800 homes on this site yet only 350 will be social housing. Although 550 will be affordable, we still do not know what affordable will be. There is a real fear that blocks of homes on the Irish Glass Bottle site will be bought by vulture funds. The vast majority of working families are locked out of buying their own homes because of the huge prices facing them. The Government has given massive relief to the developers by telling them they do not have to pay development levies. That is a nice little windfall for them courtesy of the Government. Why did the Government not use this income to make the homes on the Irish Glass Bottle site more affordable? The informed speculation is that the cost of a one-bed on the Irish Glass Bottle site will be €400,000. How is that affordable?

Housing for All should be renamed "housing for the wealthy and affluent". Housing for All excludes those who are living in inner-city flats. They do not count, and the Government is happy to let them live in accommodation that is neglected, that has rats, leaks, mould and dampness. Regeneration of the flat complexes is going at a snail's pace. There is no urgency while so many flats need regeneration, for example, in Rathmines. All the flat complexes are in serious need of regeneration. If you are not wealthy or you happen to be living in social housing, Housing for All is not for you.

Deputy David Cullinane

There are a number of areas in housing where the Minister has delivered, which should be recognised on the floor of the Dáil. First is rising rents - well done. Every year, month on month, year on year, rents have increased. In my own constituency of Waterford, rents have increased 6.5% on last year. That was up on the year before and the year before that. Well done. You delivered that as did your colleagues in Waterford, Deputies Mary Butler and Marc Ó Cathasaigh, and let us not forget Senator John Cummins for his role in those rising rents as well. The Minister has also delivered rising house prices - well done. Each and every month and year, house prices have gone up. He has also delivered record homelessness. Again, well done. The Minister deserves all the credit for that. That is his record as Minister for housing: rising rents, rising house prices, and rising homelessness. All the while, people who want to own their own home cannot afford to buy homes. The Government has not even reached its own very low targets for affordable homes. Examples have been given of affordable homes at more than €500,000. You would wonder what planet the Minister and the Government representatives are on.

It was leaked today that the Housing Commission has called for a radical reset of housing policy. That is needed, but the big reset we need is the Minister's party out of local councils up and down the State. The big reset we need is Government representatives out of the European Parliament. The big reset we need is the Minister's party and the Minister out of government in this State. We need a Government that will deliver the most ambitious and biggest public, social and affordable housing programme the State has ever seen. That is what the people need. We need to deliver affordable homes at an unprecedented scale, by which I mean affordable homes at under €300,000 and at €250,000 where that can be done. That is the objective for anybody who understands what affordable homes need to be. We need to stop the Minister's friends, the vulture funds, swooping in and buying homes that should go to families. The Minister rolls out the red carpet for the vulture funds, as we know. We have to support struggling homeowners in respect of mortgage relief and we have to speed up the construction of homes. Time and again, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin has set out all the solutions, ideas and things that need to be delivered to ensure we have the biggest housing programme in the history of the State. The Minister will go down as one of the worst housing Ministers in the history of the State. He will be remembered for all of those people who are living with their parents in box rooms, dreaming of being able to own their own home but not being able to do so. Every target he ever set he has missed. By God, what a failure that is.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

I want to talk about the human impact of the failures in housing. A family were in touch with me recently who are going to be evicted on 2 June. They will be evicted into homelessness. They have been looking for a property that would accept their HAP payment and simply cannot get that. A second family were in touch with me in similar circumstances. They have been evicted into homelessness. It is their second time becoming homeless. These are families that have done everything they can to avoid this. In other European countries they would not become homeless as private renters who pay their rent on time.

We are surrounded by other European countries where if you pay your rent on time you will not be evicted into homelessness. Yet because this Government has failed to act to protect renters from homelessness, we have people becoming homeless. This is totally avoidable.

I wish to mention one thing before continuing and it is an issue I have raised with the Minister several times, namely, the situation with Gaeltacht areas. There is a specific proposal from Conradh na Gaeilge, in its national policy on housing in the Gaeltacht, to reinstate the housing grant that was in place from 1929 until it was abolished in 2009 by the then Fianna Fáil Government during the time of the recession. It was in place for most of the history of the State and the Minister should use the powers available under Acht na dTithe (Gaeltacht) (Leasú) 2001 to re-establish the Gaeltacht housing grant scheme to support Irish language speakers, to help them to live in the Gaeltacht and reverse the decline in Gaeltacht areas.

This Government has failed to enforce its own laws when it comes to rent regulation. We have hard data from the RTB showing that last year rents in existing tenancies, not new tenancies or in new housing stock, but in existing tenancies where people have not moved to and a new tenancy has not begun, increased above the 2% allowable by law in every city in Ireland. This was 4.5% in Dublin city, 5% in Cork city, 5.4% in Waterford city, 5.5 % in Limerick city and 6.1% in Galway city. The law has been flouted everywhere in terms of the 2% increase allowed in rents in existing tenancies. When I raised this recently with the Tánaiste in the Dáil, he basically said the Government does not want to scare off investment. Is this the position of the Government? It will not implement the law to protect renters from illegal rent increases because it is afraid of scaring off investment. Is this the situation?

Let us be very clear that there is plenty of investment in the private rental sector in other European countries that actually implement their own laws on rent regulation. The countries with the largest rental sectors in Europe have rent regulation. It is not, therefore, that the Government cannot do this. It is, in any event, its own law and it should be implementing it. If the Government did implement its own laws on rent regulation that are being flouted now, but which it is not doing, it would help to protect some households from becoming homeless, but it chooses not to do this.

This is a significant issue. Several years ago, there was no clear evidence on this matter. The RTB was not collecting the data on rent increases in existing tenancies. It is now collecting this data. This hard data from the registration of existing tenancies would allow it to go off and enforce the law. Instead, the current situation is that it is down to individual renters to make complaints to the RTB, which will then go off and investigate. How many renters does the Minister think feel they are in a position where they can make complaints against their landlords? Obviously, if they do make complaints against their landlords, because protections for renters in this country are so weak, the landlords can issue a notice to quit to those tenants and evict them. Until that power imbalance is removed, we will not have renters coming forward in numbers to make complaints.

In any event, the State, through the RTB, is collecting the data showing these rent breaches that are putting households under great pressure and making some become homeless. The State and the RTB is in possession of this data that it could use to enforce the law. Yet what do we hear from the Government about enforcing this law? Nothing. I have not heard anything from the Government about why it is not enforcing the law here. I would like the Government to explain when it is going to enforce its own rent regulation law to protect renters from illegal rent increases it knows are happening all over the country. When is it going to protect households at risk of homelessness and that are becoming homeless?

We have children growing up homeless now because the Government is not enforcing its own laws on rent increases and because it is not bringing us into line with other European countries where renters who pay their rents are not evicted. In fact, the norm in many other European countries is that it is illegal to evict people into homelessness. Incidentally, this is no matter what the circumstances. Those countries put a lot of effort into trying to prevent households that fall behind in rent payments from becoming homeless. We are nowhere near that situation. We are in a situation where households that pay their rent on time are evicted into homelessness. Let us not kid ourselves then that there are not things the Government could do immediately in this area, like enforcing its own law on rent regulation. There are very basic things that would actually make a massive difference to families and individuals throughout this country. Go raibh maith agat.