I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding home ownership. On Wednesday, 31 May 2023, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 80(2), that division must be taken now.
Home Ownership: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Cian O'Callaghan on Wednesday, 31 May 2023:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
- home ownership rates have been falling in Ireland since their peak in 1991;
- while the 1991 Census showed owner-occupiers making up 79.3 per cent of households, this had fallen to 67.6 per cent in 2016;
- this fall in rates of home ownership has been accompanied by an increase in the proportion of the population residing in the private rental sector, which more than doubled between 1991 and 2016, rising from 8 per cent to 18.2 per cent;
- rent prices are now at record levels, having increased by more than 85 per cent in the past 12 years, compared to the European Union average of 18 per cent;
- the median income for first-time buyers of new homes is now more than €90,000, and more than €103,000 in Dublin;
- the share of 25-34-year-olds who own their own home more than halved between 2004 and 2019, falling from 60 per cent to just 27 per cent;
- in 2006, the average age of a first-time buyer in Ireland was 29, and last year the average age of young people when they moved out of their parents' homes was 28;
- there are now at least 350,000 adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s living at home in their childhood bedrooms; and
- according to the Economic and Social Research Institute, only 65 per cent of those currently aged 35-44 are likely to become homeowners by retirement, compared to 90 per cent of those currently aged 65 plus;
acknowledges that:
- the collapse in home ownership rates will cause great social harm to an entire generation who are locked out of home ownership; and
- rapidly falling rates of home ownership are creating a retirement timebomb, which will explode when increasing numbers of people reach pension-age and, no longer being able to afford to rent in the private market, will require expensive State supports to avoid homelessness in retirement;
further notes that:
- expansion in recent years of the Build to Rent (BTR) model has led to a collapse in many areas in the number of new homes available to purchase;
- in 2022, more housing was built for rent (9,166) than for sale (8,590);
- only 323 affordable purchase homes were delivered in 2022;
- the Irish Strategic Investment Fund has been investing public money in BTR developments;
- Home Building Finance Ireland, which was set up to provide loans for small developers, invested €300 million in private rental developments for cuckoo funds; and
- in incentivising and financing the BTR sector, to the detriment of affordable housing, the Government has deliberately chosen to lock a generation out of home ownership; and
calls on Government to:
- stop incentivising a model of housing provision that makes home ownership increasingly unlikely;
- ensure public money is not invested in the delivery of private rental-only developments that are unaffordable to rent and unavailable to buy;
- stop providing subsidies for developers, which have lined developers' pockets and kept house prices sky-high; and
- dramatically increase the delivery of genuinely affordable purchase homes, in line with the Ó Cualann model.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— through the implementation of the Housing for All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland (September 2021) and the Housing for All Action Plan Update (November 2022), the Government is actively supporting and promoting home ownership and affordable housing to reverse the change in historical patterns of home ownership evident in the past decade;
— the long-term solution to the decline in home ownership remains an increased and sustainable supply of new homes, through the State-led expanded social and affordable housing programmes, whilst removing barriers to the private sector delivering at scale, increasing new housing supply, with a combination of public and private sector development, is critical to a successful implementation of Housing for All;
— supply is increasing, in 2022 almost 30,000 homes were built, an increase of 45.2 per cent from 2021, and 5,250 homes or 21 per cent higher than the Housing for All target of 24,600, and in the first quarter of 2023, a further 6,716 new homes were added to the national housing stock, an increase of 19 per cent on the same period in 2022, and the highest number of quarter one completions recorded since the series began in 2011
— there has also been a strong uptick in commencements in the fourth quarter of 2022, which has continued into 2023 with commencement notices from January to April amounting to 9,928, this is the highest level of commencements for this period since records began in 2014, and some 6 per cent higher than the same period in 2022 (9,343);
— there were 2,801 first-time buyer mortgage approvals in March 2023, a 49.2 per cent increase on the 1,877 mortgage approvals in February 2023;
— the Government launched the Help to Buy Scheme in 2017 and has already supported over 38,000 first-time buyer households to secure a new home, with over 900 of these supports delivered in January and February this year, and this scheme has been extended to 2024;
— 10,263 social homes were delivered in 2022 (11.9 per cent increase on 2021 figures when 9,169 social homes were provided), and this represents the highest annual output of social homes in decades and the highest level of delivery of new-build housing since 1975;
— from a standing start, 1,757 affordable homes were delivered through Cost Rental, the First Home Scheme and the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme in 2022, the first full year of affordable housing delivery in a generation and which included a range of delivery partners from local authorities, Affordable Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency (LDA);
— affordable housing supply at scale will be achieved through a mix of new or extended initiatives, including the First Home scheme, local authority-provided affordable purchase schemes, the Help to Buy initiative and the expanded Local Authority Home Loan, and taken together, the suite of affordable measures will make homeownership achievable for tens of thousands of individuals and families;
— a strong pipeline of social and affordable housing is now in place, with over 19,000 new-build social homes in the pipeline and over 2,500 more local authority affordable homes already approved for funding, along with further affordable housing being planned by the LDA and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs);
— an 'Owner Occupier Guarantee' was introduced, enabling local authorities to designate a specified number of units in a development for first-time buyers and owner occupiers, and in May 2021, changes were made to the rate of stamp duty payable to penalise inappropriate investment in homes and duplexes, furthermore, Ministerial planning guidelines were issued to ensure that new 'own-door' houses and duplex units in housing developments are not bulk-purchased by commercial institutional investors in a way that would cause the displacement of individual purchasers and/or social and affordable housing including cost-rental housing, and as of December 2022, it is estimated that approximately 23,000 residential units have been ring-fenced for individual buyers and restricted from bulk buying or multiple sales to a single purchaser subsequent to the introduction of these measures;
— a record €4.5 billion in State housing investment in 2023 will ensure that the substantial uplift in supply in 2022 can be maintained and exceeded, with 9,100 direct build social homes and 5,500 affordable homes to be delivered; and
— regarding measures to accelerate supply, the Government is acting decisively to expand the options for those currently facing affordability constraints in buying or renting a home, reducing construction costs and tackling viability issues are both critical to increasing supply;
further notes that Government is reducing the cost of construction by inter alia:
— the introduction of temporary time-limited arrangements for the waiving of development contributions and the refunding of Uisce Éireann water and waste water connection charges, saving the value of €12,650 per home on average; and
— a study to analyse each component of the cost of construction of house and apartment development was undertaken, and a set of follow up actions for cost reduction and increased standardisation have been agreed and are now being implemented;
furthermore notes that Government is tackling the viability gap by inter alia:
— supporting the construction of affordable apartments for Cost Rental to get work started on thousands of affordable apartments to rent which have planning permission but which are not being progressed, and €750 million has been committed to complete 4,000 to 6,000 additional affordable apartments;
— introducing and implementing the Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme which will support the building of up to 5,000 apartments for sale to owner-occupiers;
— updating planning density guidelines to expand on the density ranges contained in the 2009 (current) guidelines, reflecting the variety of settlements and settlement contexts where residential development takes place, and to provide greater flexibility in design standards such as building separation distances and open space standards, to support the construction of more compact 'own-door' housing, alongside traditional housing and apartment developments;
— expanding Project Tosaigh aimed at accelerating delivery of homes on sites with full planning permission which would not otherwise be developed; and
— increasing the Cost Rental Equity Loan from a maximum of 30 per cent to up to 45 per cent per project and increasing the Affordable Housing Fund grant from a maximum of €100,000 per unit to up to €150,000 per unit to support Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and local authorities to deliver Cost Rental homes; and
acknowledges, regarding the investment required, the private rental market and Build-to-Rent (BTR) developments:
— some €13.5 billion in development funding will be needed annually, with a significant proportion needed from private sources, to achieve the average Housing for All target output of 33,000 dwellings per year, and securing such private, long-term capital is critical to providing the scale of housing needed over the next decade;
— institutional investment in residential real estate by reputable investors, such as pension funds, is a normal feature of real estate investment in many of our European neighbours and elsewhere; without it, much needed housing would not be delivered, the significant uplift in delivery achieved in 2022 would not be realised, and tenants and potential home buyers would be under even greater pressure;
— given the important role investment has played particularly in the development of new high-density urban housing in recent years, it is important that this investment is maintained, and the Department of Finance recently commissioned a report on the drivers of cost and availability of finance for residential development, the findings and recommendations from this report are currently being assessed and actions arising will be implemented as appropriate;
— to note, the distinct planning status of BTR developments was removed from Sustainable Urban Housing - Design Standards for New Apartments Guidelines for Planning Authorities 2022, and the removal of Specific Planning Policy Requirements (SPPRs) 7 and 8 means that BTR is no longer afforded separate classification in the planning system, while all planning applications for apartment developments must now adhere to the same standards, subject to certain transitional arrangements;
— to tackle accommodation shortages, the Government is strengthening regulatory controls on short-term lets with approval given for the priority drafting of the Registration of Short-Term Tourist Letting Bill and publication of the General Scheme of the Bill, and this legislation will deliver on the Housing for All objective to make more efficient use of existing housing stock with the establishment of the Fáilte Ireland registration system; and
— the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has commenced a comprehensive review of the private rental sector to take account of the significant regulatory changes over the past several years and will report on how our housing system can be enhanced to provide an efficient, affordable, safe and secure framework for landlords and tenants, and the review includes a public consultation process, including targeted engagement with various stakeholders, and this consultation, which will commence shortly and will continue for four weeks, will be essential in properly planning future policy for the residential rented sector including implementing measures to support both landlords and tenants and will conclude as early as possible."
- Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Kieran O'Donnell)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 71; Níl, 65; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Butler, Mary.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Creed, Michael.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donnelly, Stephen.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Foley, Norma.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Harris, Simon.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Martin, Catherine.
- Martin, Micheál.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Noonan, Malcolm.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Phelan, John Paul.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Smyth, Ossian.
- Stanton, David.
- Troy, Robert.
Níl
- Andrews, Chris.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Barry, Mick.
- Berry, Cathal.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Browne, Martin.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Cairns, Holly.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Joan.
- Collins, Michael.
- Connolly, Catherine.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Healy-Rae, Danny.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McNamara, Michael.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Murphy, Verona.
- Nash, Ged.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shanahan, Matt.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Bríd.
- Smith, Duncan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Tully, Pauline.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hildegarde Naughton and Cormac Devlin; Níl, Deputies Cian O'Callaghan and Jennifer Whitmore.
Amendment declared carried.
Motion, as amended, put and declared carried.
Is féidir teacht ar Cheisteanna Scríofa ar
www.oireachtas.ie
.
Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 7.28 p.m. go dtí 9 a.m., Déardaoin, an 1 Meitheamh 2023.
The Dáil adjourned at 7.28 p.m. until 9 a.m. on Thursday, 1 June 2023.