Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 September 2018
6. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the amount of publicly-owned land which is zoned for residential use; the amount which could potentially be zoned for residential use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39094/18]
View answerWhat is the amount of publicly-owned land which is already zoned for residential development use and the amount which could potentially be zoned for same, and will the Minister make a statement on that?
I thank the Deputy for his question. My Department, in conjunction with local authority planning departments, published a residential land availability survey in February 2015 covering all lands zoned for residential development in statutory local authority development plans and local area plans across the country. The survey showed the location and quantity of lands, whether owned privately or by the local authority, that may be regarded as being undeveloped and available for residential development purposes in each local authority area, and identified as being the highest priority for development.
The aggregate area of all such lands amounts to 17,434 ha which, given a range of densities appropriate to whether the lands are in small villages or in larger towns and cities and as determined by the relevant local authorities, could enable the construction of an estimated 415,000 dwellings. This is more than sufficient to deal with current and expected demand for housing.
Under the Government's Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, an online housing land map has been launched by my Department which aims to provide users with a range of information on residentially zoned lands. The map includes details of over 700 local authority and Housing Agency-owned sites, as well as 30 sites owned by other public bodies. In aggregate, these sites comprise some 2,000 ha, capable of supporting some 50,000 homes.
The establishment of the new Land Development Agency represents a major step forward in delivering new homes on State lands. It has an initial focus on eight sites that are capable of delivering at least 3,000 new homes in the near term, with further potential for 7,000 homes on other identified public lands. Overall, over the 20-year period of the national planning framework, the agency will have the potential to support the delivery of some 150,000 homes, including significant levels of subsidised and social housing.
It is clear from the reply that there are vast tranches of public land already zoned for residential development. I understand that between the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, and the local authorities, there is sufficient such land to build 114,000 new homes. Why is the Government proposing a privatisation model regarding large tranches of that land? If there is 60% private development on what is now a State asset, what will be the price of those houses? The average price of a new home in Dublin currently is €446,000. How affordable is that?
I want to ask questions about the official definition of "affordable" but I will leave that for the supplementary question. I ask the Minister directly about his plans for what is in effect - he cannot deny otherwise - the largest privatisation programme of land in the history of the State.
I thank the Deputy for his further answer. To throw NAMA land into this issue confuses the matter because, as the Deputy knows, NAMA has security on the loans and not the land itself. That agency has been doing what it can to deliver housing on those portfolios of lands, working with the lenders and the debtors. Also, it has been offering properties for social housing where it has been in a position to do so.
We have a significant local authority landbank, which has already been earmarked for development of social housing homes. That is already under way. That is what the €6 billion behind Rebuilding Ireland is for. The Land Development Agency is something we have never had in this State previously. It involves bringing forward large amounts of public land that is used very inefficiently, not for private developers but for our public State developer to develop. For the first time, we have this massive provision whereby 40% must be social and affordable homes on these sites. That does not mean that the other 60% will not be affordable - it will depend on the market rate and where they are being built - but what we will have is the bringing forward of public land for houses to be built for the general public. I do not see what is wrong with that. We have a responsibility to all our citizens in this Republic.
I will zone in on the issue of affordable housing. For genuinely affordable housing, one would not want to be paying over €200,000. If we take the Central Bank's guidance that a mortgage should be no more than three and a half times the household income, for a household with an income of €60,000, the top rate it could pay for a house is €210,000 if we are talking in terms of an affordable price, but the Minister does not seem to be talking in those terms. He is quoted in an article in The Irish Times as having said that when we talk about house prices, we talk about €320,000 generally in the greater Dublin area, Cork and Galway and €250,000 in other parts of the country.
The idea that a home for sale at €320,000 is affordable is incredible; it is a joke. Ordinary workers on ordinary wages are locked out of the housing market with that kind of price. How can the Minister stand over that as an affordable price?
I thank the Deputy. One can just about build a home for €200,000. We need to be reasonable in terms of what we are trying to deliver and in terms of people's expectations. If the Deputy looks at the Ó Cualann model, which we support and which the local authority delivered, and which we want to do to scale using the serviced sites fund, each of those houses got between €70,000 and €80,000 of a discount for each site to allow people to be able to buy those houses for less than €200,000. We need to be honest with the public when we talk to them about what we are trying to achieve in terms of delivering more affordable homes for them.
When we talk about €320,000, we are talking about a cap. Two people earning the average wage of €40,000 can get a mortgage to buy a house at €320,000. The problem is that not enough homes are being built. We have a shortage of housing and we are playing catch-up, although we are catching up very quickly. As we build more homes in particular areas we see that it has a mitigating impact on the price of houses being sold there. If we look outside of Dublin, the greater Dublin area, Cork and Galway, 88% of homes sold in the last 12 months were sold for less than €250,000. Of course, there is a problem in Dublin and the greater Dublin area, but approximately one third of homes sold there in the last 12 months were sold for less than €250,000.
Clearly, there is a problem in terms of affordability. That is why we are bringing forward schemes like the subsidised housing scheme using the serviced sites fund and LIHAF. That is why the Land Development Agency will bring forward land that would not have been available for housing in order to deliver that land in a way that is social, subsidised and for the general public.
