The general purposes of this Bill are to remedy certain defects in existing housing legislation, to supplement the powers of local authorities, to amend the law regarding State assistance towards private enterprise housing and to confer a number of new powers on both the Minister and the local authorities.
It is, I know, the wish of all Parties that the acceleration of the housing programme achieved up to the present should be maintained and, if possible, intensified. The practical object of this Bill is to clear the way for this purpose and to provide a better legislative basis for that comprehensive expansion in operations which has been developing.
In addition to suggestions put forward to me in Dáil Eireann from time to time, I have also discussed with many representative bodies, mainly local authorities, in the past year a considerable number of defects in the present housing code. The present Bill is largely based on the experience thus gained.
I propose to explain first the provisions dealing with the matters administered primarily or directly by the Minister for Local Government. The main items in this category relate to the making of State grants to private enterprise erecting or reconstructing houses. The importance of private enterprise in the national housing effort has been recognised in successive Acts since 1924. The Bill makes a number of important changes in the existing law dealing with this subject.
Section 9 abolishes the prohibition on the payment of second grants towards reconstruction work, provided that 15 years have elapsed since the completion of erection or reconstruction of the house for which the first grant was given. "Reconstruction" for the purposes of the second grant means the provision of a new roof or the increasing of the accommodation afforded by the house including, if required, the installation of water and sewerage facilities. Works of ordinary maintenance will not be considered.
A number of applications for second grants have been received in recent years and it is felt that a strong case exists for the removal of the existing restriction. The Acts allowing reconstruction grants go back to 1924, and it is reasonable to assume that many houses built or reconstructed since then now need attention to prolong their habitability. Reconstruction grants will not be paid at the end of 15 years as a matter of course and applications will be examined to ensure that the reconstruction is necessary to render the house more suitable for human habitation.
Section 12 removes the statutory restriction in Section 5 (3) (e) of the 1932 Act on payment of a reconstruction grant unless, before reconstruction commences, the house was certified, by an officer appointed by the Minister, to be suitable for reconstruction. The work may in future be certified after commencement. The existing requirement causes administrative difficulties and hardships where applicants proceeded with work in ignorance of the law. Adequate safeguards can be provided for administratively to cover this section.
Section 10 of the Bill includes property which was the subject of an award under the Neutrality (War Damage to Property) Act, 1941, in the categories for which grants under the Housing Acts will not be made available. Compensation payable under the Neutrality (War Damage to Property) Act, 1941, was made conditional on the owner erecting new buildings and it is desirable that State assistance in such cases should not be duplicated.
Section 16 of the Bill raises from £35 to £50 the maximum aggregate of the rateable value of the agricultural holding of an applicant for a reconstruction grant. Over 90 per cent. of the farming class will thus become eligible for these grants.
Section 8 provides for a new type of reconstruction grant in urban and rural areas. In urban areas the grant will be available to occupiers of working-class dwellings not exceeding £12 valuation. In rural areas it will be available to occupiers with a similar valuation limit not already eligible for the existing reconstruction grants on the grounds that they are not agricultural labourers or persons who derive their living solely or mainly from agriculture.
The new eligible classes will include domestic servants, fishermen, craftsmen of all kinds, serving soldiers, nurses, midwives, teachers, local and State servants, etc. The exclusion of these classes in the past undoubtedly created undesirable anomalies. The cost will be met equally by the applicant, the local authority and the State, subject to the contribution of the local authority and the State not exceeding £80 each. It will not be obligatory on the local authority to make a grant. If they decline, the State will not withhold its own grant on this account, except in the four county boroughs and the Borough of Dún Laoghaire. The general purpose is to forestall decay and to avert obsolescence. Obsolescence in towns might impose heavy future liabilities on both the State and local authorities and it is important that existing working-class houses should last as long as possible. The provision will, I hope, result in a reduction of capital expenditure on new housing.
Under the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1948, grants are payable to private persons and public utility societies for the erection of houses for owner-occupation. That Act terminated grants for speculative building and replaced them by a system which requires a private person to enter into a contract for the erection of a house as a condition precedent to the payment of a grant. At present, therefore, grants cannot be given for the purchase of a completed house; nor if the contract is entered into after the commencement of building operations. It has been strongly represented that these restrictions adversely affect private building activities, and create serious difficulties and hardships. The purchaser must enter into commitments when the only visual evidence of his house is represented by plans or drawings. The builder must await individual orders before he can commence or continue operations. He is thus compelled to develop a site in stages, with resultant delays in building programme and possible increases in cost.
At present a grant cannot be transferred where an intending purchaser is unable to fulfil his contract. The builder may be left with a completed house on his hands and the person for whom the house was intended may also be involved in serious difficulties.
Under Section 6 of the Bill grants will in future be payable to persons purchasing new houses for their own occupation. The prospective purchaser will thus be in a position to pick and choose in an open market and will be able to see the finished product before he decides to buy. The builder can plan for full construction unhampered by uncertainty that grants will be available on eventual sale, if the houses comply with the necessary building standards.
The present scales of grants for new houses will not be altered. The maximum floor area of houses eligible for grants is being increased under Section 14 from 1,250 to 1,400 square feet. This extension will meet the requirements of large families. Experience has shown that it is difficult to design a satisfactory house for the larger family within the existing limit of 1,250 square feet. The new limit will hardly result in a wide extension of the classes claiming grants. It is felt rather that persons with large families in a position to build houses up to the existing maximum of 1,250 square feet will be enabled to purchase a reasonably larger type of house for the accommodation of their families.
Section 7 of the Bill will enable housing authorities to make to any person erecting or purchasing a house in respect of which a grant is made under Section 16 of the Act of 1948 or Section 6 of the Bill, a grant not exceeding the amount of the grant paid by the State.
The Bill also proposes that Irish nationals purchasing houses to which Section 6 relates will be exempt from payment of the higher rate of stamp duty under the Finance Acts. The normal charge of £1 per cent. on the consideration will apply instead of £5 per cent. set out in the Finance Act of 1947. Thus if the house costs £2,000 the stamp duty would be £20 only, instead of £100 as under existing law. The proposed relief will not apply to non-nationals.
Section 11 of the Bill removes doubts about the validity of grants paid under Section 16 of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1948, in circumstances where a house is occupied by the legal successor in title of an applicant who dies between the date of application for a grant and the completion of construction or reconstruction. In so far as new houses are concerned, this difficulty will be resolved in future cases by the application of the provisions of Section 6 of the Bill.
The First Schedule abolishes limitations imposed by past Housing Acts on the aggregate amount of payments of housing grants. These limitations have made it necessary in the past to seek recurrent legislative authority for extensions of the prescribed limits. The present limit of £1,750,000 is fixed by Section 1 of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1949. The annual amounts to be expended in future will be subject to the control of the Dáil as they will form part of the annual Vote for the Department.
At present the existing scales of grants apply to houses completed before the 1st April, 1952. The Bill makes no change in this respect but policy regarding the scales of grants applicable to houses completed after the existing terminal date will be placed before the Oireachtas in due course and in sufficient time to enable persons contemplating building after the 1st April, 1952, to know their position clearly.
Section 17 of the Act of 1948 enabled grants to be paid in respect of houses commenced between 1st November, 1945, and 1st November, 1947. This section was inserted at a last stage in the passage of the 1947 Bill, and it was inadvertently omitted at that time to provide for a remission of rates on these houses, such as was granted in every other case where a grant was made under the Housing Acts. This omission is being rectified by Section 15 of this Bill. Rates remissions are also proposed for new houses built under Section 6 of the Bill and also for reconstruction grant cases where no grant for such reconstruction is made by the housing authority.
I now proceed to the provisions of the Bill which deal with matters primarily and directly dealt with by local authorities.
Section 17 confers powers on local authorities to acquire land compulsorily for leasing or sale to individuals and public utility societies. It has been suggested that local authorities already possess these powers but as the matter is not free from doubt the new section will remove any obscurities which deter local authorities from acquiring land for these purposes. Senators are doubtless aware of the high costs and difficulty of acquisition of suitable sites in most urban areas at present. These factors have reacted unfavourably on the efforts of private individuals and public utility societies to provide houses. The common-sense approach to this problem is to enable housing authorities to acquire and develop such lands as may be needed not only for their own housing operations but also for the needs of other classes, particularly those who are eligible for State grants and Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts loans. This provision should facilitate better planning of general urban development and should result in better balanced community settlements.
Where lands acquired and cottages erected under the Labourers Acts are brought within an urban area as a result of boundary extensions, such lands and cottages may, under Section 22, be dealt with as if they had been provided by the urban district council under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts. This will regularise points of procedure such as the selection of tenants for vacant houses of this class. The right of an existing tenant to purchase a cottage under the Labourers Act, 1936, will, however, be safeguarded. The powers contained in Section 25 of the Bill taken in conjunction with the provisions of Section 23 will achieve this end.
Section 26 of the Bill gives extended powers to rural authorities in dealing with lands acquired under the Labourers Acts. Section 16 of the 1885 Labourers Act enables rural authorities to acquire lands to be used for allotments by agricultural labourers. Such lands, however, must be held for all time for use as allotments. It is felt that rural authorities should be allowed to use such lands for any of their powers under the Labourers Acts. This discretion would be of particular importance in non-municipal towns where suitable sites for building are not always available.
Section 28 of the Bill repeals the final sentence of Section 6 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1883, which requires housing authorities acquiring land for the erection of labourers' cottages to "avoid all interference with demesne and amenity of residence of the owner of the lands proposed to be taken or with any home farm or lands immediately adjoining and customarily occupied with such residence".
These exemptions from compulsory acquisition have seriously interfered with the efforts of some housing authorities to secure sites. The exemptions represent a special type of statutory protection of limited application not applying to the general class of agricultural holder in this country. While this statutory protection is absolute in rural areas the interpretation of the terms "demesne", "amenity of residence" and "home farm" has caused much litigation which has not, however, clarified the position.
Existing procedure for compulsory acquisition of land already contains adequate safeguards for the protection of rights of property owners. Owners have a right to appeal to the Minister against local compulsory acquisition proposals. The Minister can then hold a public local inquiry at which the owner can appear or be represented. No case now exists for the continuance of the type of privilege afforded under the 1883 Act.
A similar protection of a less absolute type from compulsory acquisition by urban authorities is given by Section 9 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, to every home farm, park, garden or pleasure ground required for the amenity or convenience of a dwelling-house. It is also proposed to repeal this section.
Section 29 of the Bill gives a general power to the Minister to correct obvious mistakes in compulsory purchase orders under the Labourers Acts and to dispense with the services of notices in circumstances where the interests of the property owners will not be prejudiced. This power already applies to orders made by urban authorities under Section 45 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931.
Section 17 will empower all housing authorities to provide houses for letting or for sale to classes other than the present "working classes" or "agricultural labourer" class. These houses will be eligible for the grants applicable to private persons erecting new houses for their own occupation. This type of house should not be provided by local authorities until the needs of the working classes and the agricultural labourer classes in their own districts are satisfied. The question of providing for the most urgent and needy classes must, therefore, receive priority from local authorities. Houses erected under this new provision should be self-supporting and should involve no financial loss to the local authority.
Section 27 of the Bill confers additional consequential powers on rural housing authorities for the provision of playgrounds, shops and other amenities in connection with rural housing. These powers are already enjoyed by urban housing authorities in connection with their operations under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts.
Section 23 of the Bill will apply the provisions of Part II of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931, to rural housing authorities, so as to enable county councils to deal effectively with unhealthy areas in non-municipal towns and villages. This amendment will enable the clearance order procedure to operate in rural areas as well as in urban areas. County councils are not at present empowered to make clearance orders dealing with unhealthy areas or to purchase compulsorily unfit property on the same terms as those applicable to urban housing authorities, that is, the estimated value of the site, less the cost of clearance. There is no valid reason for this restriction on the powers of rural housing authorities. Conditions in many non-municipal towns are often as bad as those obtaining in urban areas and it is clearly desirable that rural authorities should be placed on the same footing as urban authorities in dealing with unhealthy areas.
Under Section 24 of the Bill, rural housing authorities will be enabled to provide houses for letting to persons other than agricultural labourers living in rural areas, non-municipal towns, and, in some instances, in town commissioners' areas. This extension is very necessary. At present rural housing authorities can provide cottages only for persons who come within the extended definition of an agricultural labourer. While this definition is undoubtedly wide, it does not embrace all types of workers, and categories such as serving soldiers, pensioners, midwives, etc., living in unincorporated towns and villages are not eligible for cottages. This anomaly presents considerable difficulties in the larger non-municipal towns where persons of these classes are fairly considerable in number, and may be living in overcrowded conditions or in insanitary dwellings.
The proposed extension of the powers of rural housing authorities will enable equal consideration to be given to the housing needs of all classes of workers. The same rates of subsidy, payable in respect of cottages provided under the Labourers Acts, will apply to houses to be built under this provision.
In Section 18, it is proposed to amend Section 30 of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1948, to enable all urban housing authorities to provide reserved houses for occupation by persons of a particular class. The 1948 Act restricted this power to county boroughs, boroughs and urban areas with a population of over 12,000. The original intention of this section was to provide houses for classes such as newly-weds and aged couples, who might not require dwellings of the size normally required for larger family units. In my opinion, this method of providing for the needs of newly-weds and aged couples represents an excellent and economical procedure and it should be extended to the other urban areas. In fact, some councils in the areas at present not covered by the provision have expressed a desire to provide for these classes in this manner.
The Bill also proposes certain amendments of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts. There have been many criticisms of certain provisions of these Acts and some important amendments are warranted. Section 32 amends the definition of the market value of the premises which forms the basis on which local authorities may make advances to applicants under the Acts. At present the market value is related solely to the estimated value which the house would realise in an open sale. This amendment will relate the market value of a new house to the reasonable cost of its construction. This will enable local authorities to give more liberal advances in the future, and, if builders keep prices at reasonable levels, there will be nothing to prevent the advances being fixed at percentages corresponding to equivalent proportions of the selling price. County councils will also be enabled to operate the Acts in urban areas where the urban councils are unable or unwilling to make advances. This provision is intended to cover the case of smaller urban districts with low valuations and slender resources.
It is proposed to repeal sub-section 9 (4) of the Act of 1899, which prevents local authorities from operating the Act for five years following any financial year in which the loss under the Acts equals or exceeds the sum of one halfpenny in the £ in a county borough or one penny in the £ in an urban district. This provision has operated unsatisfactorily in some urban areas and it is felt that there is no need for its retention in present circumstances.
Section 33 of the Bill removes any doubts on the powers of housing authorities to base their loans under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts on a provisional valuation basis, that is, the market value estimated at the time the plans for the house are submitted by the applicant or by the builder to the local authority. It has been suggested that local authorities could fix a valuation for the purpose of the loan only when the house was completed. Such an interpretation would lead to hardship and the matter is accordingly now being placed beyond doubt.
Section 34 of the Bill introduces the principle of a minimum cash contribution of 5 per cent. of the market value of the house to be made by the applicant out of his own resources. Thus, in the case of a house valued at, say, £1,400, the applicant will be expected to make a cash contribution of not less than £70. The State grant, plus the loan to be made by the housing authority under the Act, should normally be sufficient to make up the balance of the purchase price, if the builder's price and the local authority's valuation show a reasonable correspondence with each other.
Section 36 of the Bill will enable advances under the Acts to be made to joint proprietors. Section 37 will enable the Minister to make regulations for the purposes of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts. These amendments of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts are, in general, intended to promote the smoother working of the Acts and to eliminate as far as possible the various causes of complaints which have been made in recent years, particularly in regard to the position of the borrower.
Section 31 provides for the continuance in operation of the Labourers Acts for a period of five years expiring on 31st December, 1955. The intention here is to avoid having to provide each year, as at present, in the Expiring Laws Act for the continuance of the 1883 Act. It is hoped in the intervening period to effect a consolidation of the Labourers Acts and other enactments relating to housing.
Finally, some further amendments of the Housing Acts of a miscellaneous type are included in the Bill. It is proposed in Section 19 to extend the period in which the demolition or use otherwise than as dwellings of urban habitable houses, except with the permission of the local authority, is prohibited, from 31st December, 1950, to 31st December, 1955. It is felt that, in view of the general shortage of houses, all proposals involving demolition or conversion for purposes other than use as dwellings should continue to be subject to control by housing authorities.
Section 13 of the Bill is intended to remedy a defect in existing legislation where it is not quite clear that, as a condition for payment of subsidy or grant, the existing requirement that appropriate rates of wages or conditions of labour generally recognised by trade unions shall be paid or observed, applies at all stages of the construction of a house.
Section 20 of the Bill proposes to amend the definition of "multiple dwelling" contained in Section 11 of the Housing (Amendment) Act of 1948. This definition, in practice, had been found to be defective in so far as local authorities had no power of control where the house was occupied by the owner and only one letting was made. The new definition will cover all cases where two or more dwellings are created.
Section 21 of the Bill is likewise intended to remove difficulties that have been experienced by housing authorities in the operation of the provisions of Section 12 of the Act of 1948, dealing with the control of multiple dwellings.
Section 30 of the Bill amends sub-section 43 (6) of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1948. Section 42 of the 1948 Act enables the Minister to confirm a compulsory purchase order without inquiry in so far as it relates to land to the acquisition of which no objection was made or to the acquisition of which an objection was made and subsequently withdrawn. Sub-section 43 (6) of the 1948 Act deals with the time for the coming into operation of such an Order. As it stands, it fixes a time for the coming into force of an Order made in a case where there is no objection; it makes no provision for the case of an Order made where an objection was lodged which was withdrawn. The purpose of this section is to make provision for this latter case.
This completes my outline of the main features of the Bill which, as I have stated, is designed primarily to eliminate the more obvious defects in existing legislation, and to supplement and extend the existing powers and duties of all housing authorities.
I feel assured that the passing of the Bill will be of considerable assistance in pressing forward the general campaign for better housing in the country, and its passage will be welcomed by all classes of the community who desire to participate in the national housing drive. There is no need for me to elaborate on the benefits that will accrue to the country as a whole by the earliest possible solution of our housing problem. These are well known to all of you and it is with confidence, therefore, that I recommend this measure to the House.
