Local Authorities

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 December 2023

Thursday, 7 December 2023

Questions (5)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

5. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 126 of 9 November 2023, what engagement he or his Department has had with the Galway social housing task force regarding the issues raised in the task force chairperson's report on progress to end-2022 since that report was received by his Department; the details of any engagement he or his Department has had with the task force in 2023 on the availability of properties to rent in Galway within standard and-or discretionary HAP limits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54386/23]

Oral answers (8 contributions)

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I return to the subject of the Galway social housing task force and its report. What engagement has the Minister had with the task force and its chairperson on the housing challenges and difficulties that have been highlighted in Galway, particularly the complete absence of availability of HAP properties locally? I have had a quick glance at the written reply to my question. I would appreciate if the Minister of State would focus on the issues I am raising here.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

My Department participates directly in the Galway task force, including in the four meetings that were held this year. Alongside this, we work with local authorities and other agencies on responses to homelessness and we have regular engagements on the delivery of new social and affordable housing. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has personally engaged with all of the chief executives and directors of housing, including at both the Galway councils, most recently at the housing summit on 25 October, with a focus on working to accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing.

The Minister and I are aware of the challenges around the availability of housing in Galway and the impact for people availing of HAP. Nationally, the use of HAP is benefiting a lot of households, with nearly 4,200 new tenancies created by the end of quarter 2 of 2023, which is an average of 161 new HAP tenancies per week. In that same period to the end of the second quarter, 133 new HAP tenancies were created in Galway city, bringing the total number of active HAP tenancies there to 1,946. The equivalent figures for Galway County Council are 97 new HAP tenancies in the first half of this year, with a total of 1,436 active HAP tenancies. Last year, we gave each local authority discretion to agree to a HAP payment up to 35% above the prescribed maximum rent limit and, for new tenancies, to extend a couple's rate to single-person households.

The overall measures under Housing for All are having positive impacts on housing supply and availability, including the achievement last year of the highest level of construction of new social homes for decades. We intend to surpass that number this year. This supply is key to easing challenges for our citizens in accessing new homes, whether public housing, private supply or rental supply, including with the assistance of HAP. I appreciate that the impact of these measures may not be fully consistent across different areas of the country. For Galway, I see the task force as a support for both local authorities in their work to advance the housing challenges.

There are some positive trends in terms of commencements for all housing in Galway, albeit from a low base. For Galway city, the 2022 full-year figure for new housing commencements was 109. To October this year, commencements had increased to 210. The county commencements are also trending upwards, which is welcome news in terms of new supply.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, worked with me to try to get a report produced. Our effort went into just getting a report from a task force that was set up in 2019. The Minister of State then told me he would study the report and come back to me with an analysis of the difficulties. I have read the written answer from the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, already. Let us look at Galway city, where rents have breached all records and gone up by 12.5%. There are no houses available under HAP. The only game in town is one available property. When Simon Communities of Ireland looked at the city in its three-day snapshot, no properties were available. There are people on the housing waiting list for up to 17 and 18 years. I am not given to exaggeration. On top of that, we have headlines telling us the Galway Harbour Company is about to conclude a deal with the Land Development Agency to build premium housing. There is no mention of public housing and no mention of an overall plan. I would have thought a task force that was set up in 2019 because of the crisis that existed, a crisis that has since become worse, would analyse the situation and come up with solutions.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

I have the 2022 report in front of me, which I read through last night. As I mentioned in my reply, we are working from a low base in Galway. The Deputy has raised this issue on more than one occasion in the House. I refer to the targets for Galway city for 2022.

For Galway city, the target was 305, with delivery of 150. The county target was 230, with delivery of 224. The report acknowledges that there were a lot of external pressures in the construction sector and highlights the impact of workload associated with providing accommodation for those arriving in Ireland from Ukraine in 2022. It also notes that the subgroup on homelessness and Traveller homelessness began to work in May on some of the issues that need to be addressed there. There has been significant progress made through the task force, albeit I acknowledge that it was coming from a low base.

I might come back to the Deputy in relation to the Galway Harbour Company in the supplementary. I was not aware of the issue. I know that the Deputy raised it in the Dáil earlier in the week as well. It is something we will look into.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I thank the Minister of State for confirming that he will look at it. It is a real concern to me that 6 acres of public land is being sold in a deal that we know nothing about, including the price, with no commitment to public housing. The task force was set up in 2019, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We have had a serious housing crisis in Galway. The task force has become a further layer of bureaucracy that is there to assist the managers in the county and the city to comply with their plans. The county is doing slightly better than the city. The city is not complying with its targets and we have a major housing problem. I would have thought a task force would look at the land we have and determine what public housing can be built on it to balance the market and bring the prices down. Instead of that, we have each area doing its own thing. There is Ceannt Station with assets of land within the city centre. The harbour area, Sandy Road and Headford Road are all operating on their own. There is no city architect, no overall plan, and a huge amount of vacancies in the planning department. We have a task force that we have to drag the reports from, and still there is no final report or analysis.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

The problems and the challenges that the Deputy has outlined really stem back to the local authorities. I think there needs to be unity between the two local authorities in terms of the delivery. I know-----

Deputy Catherine Connolly

The Land Development agency was set up by the Government to deal with it.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

I appreciate that.

On the chapter on future focus, the report states that the task force has been active in its consideration of further improvements to social and affordable housing delivery, including greater use of modular housing, more effective partnerships with AHBs, higher density brownfield development, greater diversity in house and apartment size, greater urgency around the use of infill sites in urban areas and ongoing active liaison with the LDA.

The Deputy referred to a city architect. I think that is a critical role if this is the ambition in terms of its future focus. Galway city, like many other cities, has huge potential for infill development within the urban core. That is where a significant focus of attention should be in the delivery of social and affordable housing. I will take back to the Minister the point made by the Deputy in relation to the development the Galway Harbour Company is involved in. I note the concern that she raised in relation to that.