For whom are the so-called affordable houses affordable? A few weeks ago, the affordable homes partnership advertised 500 units that it had bought on the open market. Those houses were to be sold in various places, including south Dublin County, Citywest and Adamstown, Meath and Kildare. If my memory serves me right, the prices ranged from €240,000 to €280,000. They were two and three-bedroom properties, and the minimum income in the case of a single person or couple was €45,000. I commented on that in the Seanad at the time when I said:
Some weeks ago, the affordable homes partnership advertised 500 housing units which it bought on the open market, being offered to buyers now as so-called affordable homes. The minimum income which must be earned to apply for any of those 500 houses is €45,000.
I wish to clarify this. The Affordable Homes Partnership subsequently wrote to Senator O'Rourke about my comments. In the letter, a copy of which I received today, it stated that it had been suggested that it was the only form of initiative by the partnership and the only house price type available. I did not say that, however. A few years ago, houses were available for €171,000 in the Lucan area.
My point was that for those 500 houses the income limit was €45,000, and that is becoming a trend. For example, in Adamstown the price range suggested for two and three-bedroom properties is €283,000 to €315,000. The income limits for those houses will almost certainly be much the same. As I said in the Seanad at the time, a teacher, a garda, a nurse, a bus driver or a journalist of a few years' experience would not be able to afford so-called affordable housing. The letter sent to Senator O'Rourke stated that anyone earning less than €40,000 can apply for an affordable home as a single applicant, as catered for within the affordable housing scheme 1999. Where are those houses? The reality is that they are simply not being provided. What is coming down the line and the houses under the affordable housing zoned land seem likely to have a similar income limit. One need not be single to have a home income of under €45,000. Where are the affordable homes for such people? At this rate, they will end up in a cardboard box. That is a legitimate concern to raise.
I have made inquiries in that regard. If I had an income of €40,000, what loan might I expect from lending institutions? Generously multiplying an income of €40,000 by five would give me €200,000. According to the general information that lending institutions give people, that is the amount of money that might be forwarded. Affordable houses are now becoming unaffordable for much of the population, including the people whom one wishes to see in local communities in Dublin.
I also commented that affordable housing is becoming the new brown envelope to get land zoned for housing that could not be so zoned through the normal processes. I stand over that absolutely. I made the following point in the Seanad:
The affordable homes partnership has asked developers to submit proposals for unzoned land in order for it to get the land rezoned in return for so-called affordable housing. Developers can buy cheap high-amenity lands, have them rezoned and make many hundreds of millions of euro on their investments, which is a scandal. [...] Affordable housing has become the new brown envelope. Developers get land rezoned and maintain the speculative approach to the housing market and land prices.
I stand by that comment. It is clear that I used the phrase "the new brown envelope" with this meaning. Developers are quick to catch on to any new trick to make their millions. They have now seen a new opening since brown envelopes are obviously no longer being passed as they once were. I know that most people are honest and that not everyone would take one.
My point concerned land that developers cannot get zoned on the basis of sustainable planning and development through the county development plan process. Now those developers are seizing the opportunity to get it zoned by saying that so-called affordable housing will be built on it. The chairperson of the Affordable Homes Partnership gave the example of St. Edmundsbury, Lucan, saying that 30% of houses would be speculative and 70% would be so-called social and affordable housing. Selling a house for €315,000 on high-amenity lands where developers could not buy or sell houses is speculative and they will make their money from it.
I am not blaming individuals but Government policy. The Government set up the Affordable Homes Partnership, but it is not delivering affordable housing. The scheme was originally announced in 1998. While it was supposed to be wonderful, its promise never materialised. They called for proposals from developers for unzoned land. A conflict of interest is involved as county managers are in the Affordable Homes Partnership while they also make recommendations to councils on whether to rezone land. I wonder about the entire set-up of the partnership.
That is not the fault of those involved, who have a job to do. In practice, high amenity and green belt lands that developers could not get zoned are now being put forward to the Affordable Homes Partnership. It was obvious that it would happen. Take the land at St. Edmundsbury, Woodville in Lucan, for example. This is a last ditch attempt to cash in on land on which a profit was not being made by taking the normal route in line with the county development plan. The chief executive said that lands were likely to be zoned. In fact that is not the case. There have been several attempts to get the land zoned at St. Edmundsbury, Woodville, and it is high amenity zoning because it is located in the Liffey Valley. In the last local elections four councillors including the Labour Party candidate were elected on the understanding they would protect those lands from housing. The developers knew they could not get that land zoned, so they seized their opportunity when the affordable homes partnership advertised for unzoned lands.
The way the affordable homes partnership has been set up as regards this call for unzoned lands promotes speculation by developers because, basically, they can buy unzoned, high amenity, green belt or agricultural land on the cheap, have it zoned and make hundreds of millions of euro. That promotes speculation and ultimately increased house prices, which militates against the whole reason for setting up the affordable partnership scheme. It is a circular process. The affordable homes partnership is involved in promoting speculative development, consolidating the system as it is and ultimately increasing house prices for the benefit of developers, not the community. As regards the proposed St. Edmundsbury project, nothing is being offered by the developer which was not on offer before, the pitches, sites for a school — which happens anyway — etc. Development should take place on land already zoned for housing. An example is Adamstown in Lucan where the developers had to erect a train station with the first 1,000 houses or they could not build any more. They had to erect permanent school buildings and social and affordable housing comprised 15% of the development.
I made the statement in that context and I stand over it, absolutely. I have a couple of other questions. Since St. Edmundsbury is in my area I know most about this. One is talking about 1,600 so-called affordable houses on site in Lucan. I checked to see how may people were on the waiting list for affordable housing in the South County Dublin Council area. Currently the figure is 785 for the entire local authority area for people approved and on the waiting list. A further 250 applicants are due to be included on the list, bringing the total to more than 1,000 currently who have applied for affordable housing to South County Dublin Council, and obviously most of those people are from the area.
When the south County Dublin part of the affordable housing initiative was advertised there were 250 applicants. It should be emphasised that houses are not affordable, and most people on that list probably cannot afford to buy in any event. Why does the Department believe there is a need to do this? The logic does not stand up in terms of the waiting list. This is absolutely great for developers since it means they get the land zoned which they previously had failed to achieve since the 1980s, and really make profits. I have raised the conflict of interest issue, which I believe arises, and the county manager in my local authority emphasised that he would absent himself from affordable homes partnership meetings when any land was being discussed to do with his area, yet he sits in on council meetings where these matters are being discussed and makes recommendations for or against. I am not going to pre-empt what decisions he takes, but I still believe a conflict of interest exists and the statutory instrument which was set up in this regard is flawed.
In addition this procedure is anti local democracy. At least the development plan is done in an holistic manner and the whole county is looked at. There is a set procedure and people know where they stand. This is being done outside the development plan, however, and is ad hoc piecemeal planning. It is not sustainable planning. Unlike the county councils nobody in the affordable homes partnership is directly elected by the community. At least councillors are democratically elected and involved in the county development plan, which is closely monitored, and people can vote them in or out. This was done in my area, incidentally, where no Fianna Fáil candidate was elected in the last council elections. Much of that has to do with the unsustainable planning patterns of the past and the controversies surrounding planning decisions.
The county manager recently made a statement about the capacity of land already zoned for housing in south County Dublin and how many houses could be built. Basically, he was shooting down a proposal by a someone to develop his own land at Newcastle, This developer was not lucky enough to be able to avail of the affordable housing scheme.