Cian O'Callaghan
Question:7. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Housing will meet next. [36121/23]
View answerTuesday, 26 September 2023
Questions (7, 8, 9, 10)
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:8. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with housing will next meet. [41208/23]
View answer
Paul Murphy
Question:9. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [41212/23]
View answer
Bernard Durkan
Question:10. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Taoiseach when the next Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [41349/23]
View answerOral answers (9 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 10, inclusive, together.
The next meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing will take place in October.
The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and the delivery of programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters. We are now entering the third year of the implementation of Housing for All. The plan is working with strong performance on many indicators, including new home commencements and completions. Despite considerable challenges in the external environment, building started on almost 30,000 new homes in the 12 months to the end of August and in the first half of this year, a record 14,000 homes were completed, which was an increase of almost 6% on the same period last year. Those comparisons apply to the period since the current way of counting began in 2011. This, coupled with the trend over the past decade of more houses being built in the second half of the year, means we are confident that the target for delivery of 29,000 homes in 2023 will be met and probably exceeded. The future pipeline is also positive, with planning permission granted for over 20,000 new homes in the first half of this year alone.
Under the plan, we have introduced affordable purchase initiatives, including the first home scheme, the local authority home loan, the local authority affordable purchase scheme and Project Tosaigh. We have also extended the help-to-buy scheme. We are now seeing very large numbers of first-time buyers purchasing homes for the first time, with more than 700 first-time buyer mortgages approved every week. The Government has responded to the financial viability challenges facing the residential construction sector as a result of high inflation and rising interest rates. The Croí Cónaithe city scheme is supporting the building of apartments for sale to owner-occupiers and the new secure tenancy affordable rental, STAR, scheme will assist developers to build over 4,000 cost-rental homes. We are working to reduce vacancy with a grant of €50,000 to bring vacant properties back into use and €70,000 for derelict properties.
As well as these schemes, a major emphasis for the remainder of the year and into 2024 will be on measures to improve the long-term sustainability of the sector, including through the adoption of modern methods of construction and enhanced capacity. The planning and development Bill will also be brought before the House in the coming weeks.
Housing for All includes a provision to review and update actions in the plan on an annual basis and work is ongoing on the second annual update, which will be considered by the Cabinet committee in October.
There is a ticking timebomb when it comes to multi-unit developments and their sinking funds. As apartments built during the Celtic tiger era reach 20 years of age, sinking funds will increasingly be needed to fund repairs to leaking roofs and lifts that need to be replaced. When those sinking funds are insufficient, repairs cannot take place and apartment owners may be levied sums they simply cannot afford. Failure to regulate management companies properly, combined with sinking funds being used to fund building defects, means that in the next few years, this crisis will come to a head. It cannot be ignored yet that is what the Government has done.
There was a commitment in the programme for Government to review the Multi-Unit Developments Act but it has not been progressed. While the Housing Agency drafted regulations on sinking funds and service charges last February, the Department of Justice failed to publish them. When will those draft regulations be published? When will the commitment in the programme for Government to reform the Multi-Unit Developments Act be implemented? When will a regulator for management companies with robust enforcement powers be established?
I have been contacted by somebody in Cork about a new development in the rental sector. A company called HomeHak has apparently taken over a significant part of the rental market in Cork and is spreading beyond that area. People are required to put together CVs that include the name of the tenant, background references, employment history, minimum rent desired, maximum rent, the number of rooms desired, the number of household members, the number of children and a photograph of the potential tenant. The CV is put up on a website and after a period of time, people must pay to keep it online. The concern that is being expressed is that people are potentially vulnerable to predatory behaviour because the system is based on photos and so on. This system also creates a two-tier private rental market. Landlords can select people on the basis of these CVs, meaning people on low incomes or with a particular family make-up have absolutely no chance of getting a private rental property. I ask the Taoiseach to look into the matter.
Today's edition of The Irish Times reports that the Government is considering reducing tax on rental income. Why on earth should people pay less tax on passive income than they pay on earned income? Why on earth should tenants pay a higher rate of tax on their income than landlords pay on their income? The justification for this is the idea that there is a flood of landlords leaving the market because they have such a hard time and so on. The evidence does not back that up. We have the highest rents on record. The total in private rent going to private landlords in 2022 was €4.7 billion. The 2016 figure was €3.1 billion. We know the private rental sector is getting bigger rather than smaller. The answer in terms of evictions is for the State to buy with tenants in situ and to leave the tenants in place.
I have a query in respect of this issue. The Government's plans are having success. However, they are, unfortunately, too slow. They were quite successful in dealing with the population as it was four, five or ten years ago but in the present climate, we find that counties adjacent to Dublin city and county are having serious problems with a lack of emergency housing. We in County Kildare have run out of possibilities. We are trying. I am asking the Taoiseach to initiate an emergency programme of modern modular housing to deal with those situations as they arise. We cannot live forever with people being changed around in emergency housing. These are people who will have no other option for the foreseeable future.
It seems that Fórsa has achieved a roadmap to job evaluation for its members in local authorities, which could mean the end of the industrial action. That is very positive except for those people who will now have to take calls and emails from me.
If we are talking about housing, we know we need to see a complete escalation in respect of modern methods of construction. However, I wish to deal with the issue of housing adaptation grants for older people and those with disabilities. Louth County Council got a small amount of money to reopen for applications, for which it had shut, in the next while. At this point, however, we are still looking at something like an 18-month backlog. We know that a review is happening locally. There is also a review happening at Government level. We need to see the outworking of that. We need to look at thresholds because we are talking about trying to deal with people who are suffering in respect, in particular, of mobility issues. We need something that is more fit for purpose, which means the announcement of thresholds and a process for which to do this.
In the Taoiseach's own constituency of Dublin West, 30 schools had 110 unfilled teaching posts last year, according to the Dublin West education coalition, which organised a comprehensive survey. Some 75% of schools received no applications and 81% ended up using unqualified teachers. The reasons for this crisis are many and varied. They include cuts in teachers' pay and allowances, and non-recognition of qualifications and service abroad. However, the issues of housing availability and affordability, and sky-high rents, have been raised again and again. What steps, if any, is the Government taking to address these housing issues? What steps does the Taoiseach intend to take to tackle the teacher shortage crisis in his own constituency?
It was interesting to hear Members opposite reference the tenant in situ scheme which, as the Taoiseach knows, has two strands. One is for social housing tenants whose landlords want to bring their tenancy to an end. The other strand is for those in private rental accommodation whose landlords want to bring their tenancy to an end. In both cases, the local authority or housing association can step in to purchase the house and keep the tenant in situ. Does the Taoiseach welcome the news from my county and share my appreciation of the work being done by South Dublin County Council? A total of 99 tenants have so far availed of the scheme in the South Dublin County Council area.
I believe 133 in total are being processed by the county council. This is not enough but the Taoiseach will agree that it is good news.
I thank the Deputies and I will be as quick as I can. Certainly, when it comes to multi-unit developments, all should have a sinking fund. A portion of the management fee should go into that every year so it builds up over 20 or 30 years and there is a pool of money then to carry out any works that need to be done. Whether you live in an apartment or a house, every 30 years or so you need to do major works to it. That is the nature of buildings, and that is money the owner has to pay.
In terms of the review of the Act, I do not know the timeline on that but I will check with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and will return to Deputy Cowen on that. I am not familiar with HomeHak but I will ask the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, to look into it.
On any tax package for small landlords in the budget, again, no budget decision has been made on this but any time we bring in a tax incentive or concession, it is done for a reason. We brought in a rent credit in the previous budget, for example, which means that somebody renting pays less income tax than somebody earning the same amount of money but who pays a mortgage or owns a house. We did that in recognition of the very high rents people have to pay. I expressed the view and I express it again that if there is any tax concession for small landlords, it must be linked in some way to benefits for the tenants as well. It cannot just be about the landlord.
I agree with Deputy Durkan and others on the progress being made in housing being welcome but still being too slow. We are increasingly using modern methods of construction. We have the new can Construction Technology Centre driving that and the National Construction Training Campus in Mount Lucas. I am a big supporter of modular builds and modern methods of construction but we also need to be realistic. The promise of them being cheaper and a hell of a lot quicker has never actually been realised. It might be quicker but it is rarely cheaper. It has a role to play but we need to be realistic about the extent of the difference it can make.
On the housing adaption grants, I believe that review is complete or nearing completion and it is with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, at the moment. It looks at the issue of income thresholds and the amount of grants that may be needed given the scale of construction inflation in recent years.
Deputy Barry mentioned housing issues and asked what we are doing to reduce rents. We have the rent pressure zones and have introduced the rent tax credit. We are investing in cost-rental housing in particular, which will benefit many people, and we are building more social housing, which allows many people to come off the housing assistance payment, HAP, into social housing, thus freeing up housing for others. These are the kind of things we are doing to bring down the cost of renting.
While there are vacancies in many schools, it is worth pointing out that there are more teachers in Ireland than ever before who are registered with The Teaching Council and employed by the Department of Education. We have initial talks now with the public sector unions on the next pay deal and pay round, which relates to the amount public servants, including teachers, get paid.
I join Deputy Lahart in welcoming the progress made by South Dublin County Council in acquiring 99 houses from landlords under the tenant in situ scheme. It is a very good scheme. It means people who perhaps have been on HAP or the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, for a long period of time can become regular social housing tenants. I am glad that is really taking off, not just in south Dublin but throughout the country.