Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 January 2022
65. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of affordable purchase homes that were delivered in 2021; the target for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3555/22]
View answerOn the very subject of delivery of affordable purchase homes, how many affordable purchase homes were delivered in 2021? What was the target? How many affordable purchase homes will be delivered in 2022? Is the Minister confident that we will meet that target?
We have a challenge. I thank the Deputy for the question. The Affordable Housing Act 2021, which I commenced in August 2021, laid the provisions for the introduction of two new affordable purchase schemes. This will see new homes made available via local authorities, the Land Development Agency and a new national first home scheme. The measures will primarily assist first-time buyers or those under the fresh start principle trying to purchase homes but unable to secure sufficient finance to do so. These will be very important for delivery of housing this year.
I have confirmed that 36,000 affordable purchase homes will be delivered in the period to 2030 and have put in place an unprecedented level of funding to do so. While Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, with county council support, delivered some affordable purchase schemes in 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on construction sites had a significant impact on anticipated delivery of homes.
Fortunately, significant progress has been made that will see very many more affordable homes made available in 2022. The first of these homes will be made available next month in Boherboy, County Cork. The advancement of these schemes with the funding we are providing has allowed us in 2022 to set a target to deliver approximately 2,500 affordable homes for purchase this year. That does not include the cost rental and affordable rental homes. That figure will increase incrementally over the years to come.
The Minister might clarify the following. He said that Ó Cualann delivered affordable purchase homes in 2021. How many of those were occupied in 2021? As the Minister knows, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, home ownership among adults of prime working age has collapsed since 2012. House prices grew by a staggering 77% up to 2020, while during the same period wages only grew by 23%. The Parliamentary Budget Office says that on an international scale, housing affordability in Ireland is rated as severely unaffordable. People struggling to pay unaffordable rents and struggling to buy a home want to know what the Government is doing to make housing affordable. In the 2020 general election, the Minister promised 10,000 affordable homes each year. In the two years since then, the Government has not delivered in terms of affordable purchase homes. How many affordable purchase homes were occupied last year?
We have delivered the most comprehensive affordable housing legislation that any Government has ever brought forward. That affordable housing legislation was supported by all in this House with the exception of eight Deputies. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan was one of those eight Deputies who voted against affordable housing for working people. He voted against cost rental, against affordable purchase delivered by local authorities and against the Home First shared equity scheme. Let us put that on record.
We are not going to turn ten years of undersupply around overnight. We need to put the building blocks in place like the Affordable Housing Act to deliver affordable housing for working people. We are going to do that this year. On top of that, we want to develop State-owned land, some of which we have mentioned here, some of the unfortunately infamous sites. We brought forward the Land Development Agency Act, revised the Land Development Agency and capitalised it to be able to deliver public homes on State-owned land. I remind the Deputy that in Cork and Dublin, it is 100% social and affordable. Again that is legislation that he and his party opposed. It is his absolute right to do so should he wish. However, without the policies in place backed by the money we have put in place through Housing for All, we are not going to deliver any affordable homes. We are delivering them. This year will see a significant number of affordable homes delivered from a base of zero.
I will ask the Minister for a third time how many affordable purchase homes were actually occupied in 2021. He has not answered that question. He might give me an answer. The Minister knows well why I did not support the Affordable Housing Bill. I do not support the Government's definition of affordability as not being related to incomes but instead being based on market prices. For the record, the Minister's party on Dublin City Council voted against zoning to provide affordable homes. His party, Fine Gael and nearly all the Green Party councillors with one notable exception voted against it. The facts are that according to Dublin City Council over the next number of years almost 70% of new households will not be able to afford to buy or rent a home in Dublin city. Almost 70% are going to be reliant on social or affordable homes. That is absolutely shocking. Policies that continue to inflate rents and house prices are causing that problem. We know from the Ó Cualann model that affordable homes can be delivered, three-bed semi-detached, at the rate of about €260,000 as is happening in the Minister's constituency. That needs to be rolled out across the country at scale. For the last time, how many affordable purchase homes were actually occupied last year?
Dun Emer in Lusk, to which the Deputy referred, with this Government's support through the affordable housing fund, will be delivering homes for between €166,000 and €266,000. In Ballymastone in north County Dublin, there will be over 1,000 homes. I remind the Deputy that will include 258 social homes and 258 affordable purchase homes. The Deputy's colleagues in Fingal County Council actually voted against that.
They should all be affordable and social.
The Deputy and his colleagues will always find a reason to oppose it. Regarding Oscar Traynor Road, they opposed the deal again there for effectively 40% social, 40% cost rental and 20% affordable purchase.
There is no cost rental in Oscar Traynor Road. That is not true.
They are some of the biggest land hoarders in the country.
The Social Democrats opposed it. The Deputies opposite cannot contain themselves this evening.
The Minister just will not stick to the facts.
Unfortunately people have found them out on this because they are not going to be able to deliver affordable housing for working people without the Government supporting it, which we are doing through Housing for All.
The Minister has not answered my question.
We are going to deliver a significant number of affordable purchase homes this year which I have outlined to the Deputy in my answer.
How many last year?
On top of that we are going to deliver cost rental, which the Deputy opposed by voting against the Affordable Housing Bill.
How many?
