Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 May 2023
321. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will introduce new measures to help older house owners who wish to downsize and purchase smaller apartment accommodation given the difficulties many of them are facing due to institutional investors outbidding them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23733/23]
View answerHousing for All (published in September 2021) provides a new housing plan for Ireland to 2030 with the overall objective that every citizen in the State should have access to good quality homes through a steady supply of housing in the right locations, with economic, social and environmental sustainability built into the system. The strategy commits to increasing the housing options available to older people to facilitate ageing in place with dignity and independence, including the development of a national policy on right-sizing.
My Department is advancing work on the development of this policy and exploration of the options to support and incentivise rightsizing on a voluntary basis with the objective of optimising the potential for more efficient use of under occupied existing private and social housing stock. The development of a national rightsizing policy is having regard to a focused stakeholder consultation undertaken in the latter part of 2022 and existing local authority approaches to rightsizing for social housing. My Department is working on bringing forward a draft national policy in the coming months.
