Housing: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]

The following motion was moved by Deputy Eoin Ó Broin on Tuesday, 7 November 2023:

That Dáil Éireann:

condemns Budget 2024 for:

— providing no additional voted capital expenditure on 2023 levels;

— not increasing the Government's inadequate social and affordable housing targets;

— excluding reforms of the public spending code to speed up the delivery of social or affordable housing;

— including no new measures to tackle dereliction and vacancy;

— including no new measures to reduce the levels of homelessness; and

— extending policies that push up house prices out to 2025;

notes that under the current Government:

— house prices have increased 28 per cent, costing on average €70,000 more;

— rents have increased by 25 per cent costing on average €3,700 more per year;

— homelessness, including child homelessness, has increased by 47 per cent;

— social housing output has been 33 per cent below target, leaving a shortfall of 8,527 homes from 2020 to 2022;

— just 1,401 social homes of a target of 9,100 were delivered by June 2023;

— zero affordable homes were delivered in 2020 or 2021;

— just 1,007 affordable homes were delivered in 2022, 50 per cent behind target;

— only 123 affordable homes of a target of 3,500 were delivered by June 2023;

— over €1 billion of voted capital expenditure for social and affordable homes went unspent from 2020 to 2022;

— over €1 billion of general Government capital expenditure, including voted capital expenditure, Approved Housing Bodies borrowing and Land Development Agency funding, went unspent in 2022; and

— at the end of September 2023, less than half of the allocated €4 billion general Government expenditure for housing was spent;

further notes, with concern, that the lack of affordable housing is:

— undermining public services including education, healthcare, social care and the Gardaí;

— impacting on investment, competitiveness and jobs in the private sector;

— forcing an entire generation with good education and job prospects to emigrate; and

— driving increased levels of adult and child homelessness; and

calls on the Government to:

— immediately increase the voted capital expenditure allocation for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for 2024, to increase social and affordable housing targets to at least 21,000 in 2024, including 13,000 social homes, 4,000 affordable purchase homes and 4,000 affordable rental homes;

— urgently reform the public spending code in order to increase and accelerate social and affordable housing delivery;

— ensure that at least 4,000 vacant and derelict homes are brought back into use in 2024;

— introduce a three-year ban on rent increases and transform and expand the current renters credit to ensure it provides a full month's rent back into every private renters pocket through a refundable tax credit; and

— include an emergency response to address the escalating homelessness crisis including a doubling of housing first tenancies and the provision of 1,000 social homes to end homelessness for over 55's in a single year and reduce child homelessness.

Debate resumed on amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

— Budget 2024 delivered a record €5.1 billion in capital investment in housing made up of €2.6 billion in exchequer funding, €978 million for the Land Development Agency (LDA) and €1.5 billion for Housing Finance Agency (HFA) funding;

— the capital funding being provided for housing in 2024, coupled with LDA and HFA investment, is the highest ever in the history of the State;

— a review and refresh of Housing for All targets is underway, including for social and affordable housing, with revised targets to be agreed and published in 2024, having regard to the Census 2022 data published in Autumn this year, and updated population and structural housing demand projections being developed by the Economic and Social Research Institute for the National Planning Framework revision;

— numerous initiatives are already underway to address vacancy and dereliction, underpinned by the Vacant Homes Action Plan 2023-2026 which was launched earlier this year, and which will revitalise towns and cities while also providing additional homes;

— the recent expansion of the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant, the changes to the Vacant Property Tax made in Budget 2024, and the new local authority-led Compulsory Purchase Orders Activation Programme is resulting in a significant increase of vacant homes coming back into use and an increase in the supply of homes for rent or purchase;

— building on the enhanced tenancy protections introduced by this Government, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is close to concluding a comprehensive review of the private rental sector, which takes into account the significant regulatory changes over the past several years;

— the extension of Rent Pressure Zones where rents are capped at 2 per cent, the increase in the rent tax credit to €750 in Budget 2024, and the introduction of other legislative requirements to support renters;

— the increase in the thresholds for access to Cost Rental homes, which was increased from €53k net to €66k net in Dublin and €59k outside Dublin, in July 2023;

— interventions such as the Tenant in Situ Scheme are making a real impact in providing secure, long-term homes and preventing homelessness, and to date in 2023 over 1,000 social housing acquisitions have been completed with a further 1,600 at various stages of the assessment and conveyance process;

— the Cost Rental Tenant in Situ Scheme (CRTiS) was introduced on 1st April, 2023, for tenants in private rental homes who are not eligible for social housing supports but who are at risk of homelessness, and the Housing Agency are engaging with more than 130 landlords with a view to the purchase of those homes;

— the increase in homelessness is a serious concern and remains a top priority for the Government, and that resources and funding are not an obstacle to the urgent efforts required; and

— Budget 2024 provides funding of over €242 million, an increase of 12.6 per cent on this year, for the delivery of homeless services;

further notes that the Public Spending Code is in the process of being reformed to the updated Infrastructure Guidelines and will be published shortly, and several changes to the Capital Appraisal Guidelines have already been implemented through Circular 06/2023 issued by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform;

acknowledges that increased supply is key to meeting demand and moderating house prices, and welcomes that:

— annual house price inflation, as measured by the Central Statistics Office Residential Property Price Index, has moderated significantly in 2023, falling from 15.1 per cent in March 2022 to less than 1 per cent in August 2023;

— first-time buyer mortgage approvals reached a new 12-month high, with 30,184 mortgages approved in the 12 months ending September 2023, some 61 per cent of all mortgage drawdowns approved; and

— almost 30,000 new homes were built in 2022, an increase of 45 per cent on 2021, and 5,250 homes or 21 per cent higher than the Housing for All target of 24,600;

recognises that considerable progress has been made since Housing for All (September 2021) was published, including:

— increased social and affordable housing supply, with 10,263 social homes delivered in 2022, representing an 11.9 per cent increase on 2021 figures, when 9,169 social homes were provided, and this represents the highest annual output of social homes in decades and the highest level of delivery of new-build housing since 1975;

— from a standing start, 1,757 affordable homes delivered in 2022, the first full year of affordable housing delivery in a generation, and that a very ambitious programme of affordable housing is now in place, and this momentum is continuing as the pipeline of affordable housing develops further by local authorities, by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and by the LDA;

— funding of over €370 million has been approved to date to assist in the delivery of over 4,300 affordable homes from 2022 to 2027, from 72 schemes across 20 local authorities under the Affordable Housing Fund;

— funding of over €600 million for AHBs under the Cost Rental Equity Loan has been approved to date, to assist in the delivery of over 3,000 Cost Rental homes from 2022 to 2027;

— as of Q3 2023, the First Home Scheme had 2,598 approvals, and a total of 6,376 potential buyers had registered their interest in the scheme, with over 3,900 new expressions of interest so far in 2023;

— the significant increase in new home commencements, which is continuing with almost 24,000 homes commenced between January and September this year, up 14 per cent on last year; and

— more than 22,400 homes have been built to end-September 2023, with the Housing for All targets or 29,000 and 33,450 expected to be met, if not exceeded, in 2023 and 2024 respectively; and

agrees that continued implementation of Housing for All represents the most appropriate response to deal with the housing challenges which Ireland is now facing.".

-(Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage)

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion on housing. On Tuesday, 7 November 2023, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 80(2), that division must be taken now.

Amendment put:

The Dáil divided: Tá, 67; Níl, 53; Staon, 0.

Tá

Brophy, Colm.
Browne, James.
Bruton, Richard.
Burke, Colm.
Butler, Mary.
Cahill, Jackie.
Cannon, Ciarán.
Chambers, Jack.
Collins, Niall.
Costello, Patrick.
Cowen, Barry.
Creed, Michael.
Crowe, Cathal.
Devlin, Cormac.
Dillon, Alan.
Donnelly, Stephen.
Duffy, Francis Noel.
Durkan, Bernard J.
English, Damien.
Farrell, Alan.
Feighan, Frankie.
Flaherty, Joe.
Flanagan, Charles.
Fleming, Sean.
Foley, Norma.
Griffin, Brendan.
Harris, Simon.
Haughey, Seán.
Higgins, Emer.
Humphreys, Heather.
Kehoe, Paul.
Lahart, John.
Leddin, Brian.
Madigan, Josepha.
Martin, Catherine.
Matthews, Steven.
McAuliffe, Paul.
McConalogue, Charlie.
McEntee, Helen.
McGrath, Michael.
McGuinness, John.
McHugh, Joe.
Moynihan, Aindrias.
Moynihan, Michael.
Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
Naughton, Hildegarde.
Noonan, Malcolm.
O'Brien, Darragh.
O'Brien, Joe.
O'Callaghan, Jim.
O'Dea, Willie.
O'Donnell, Kieran.
O'Dowd, Fergus.
O'Gorman, Roderic.
O'Sullivan, Christopher.
O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
Ó Cuív, Éamon.
Phelan, John Paul.
Rabbitte, Anne.
Richmond, Neale.
Ring, Michael.
Ryan, Eamon.
Smith, Brendan.
Smyth, Niamh.
Smyth, Ossian.
Stanton, David.

Níl

Andrews, Chris.
Bacik, Ivana.
Barry, Mick.
Berry, Cathal.
Boyd Barrett, Richard.
Brady, John.
Browne, Martin.
Buckley, Pat.
Carthy, Matt.
Clarke, Sorca.
Collins, Joan.
Conway-Walsh, Rose.
Crowe, Seán.
Cullinane, David.
Daly, Pa.
Doherty, Pearse.
Donnelly, Paul.
Ellis, Dessie.
Funchion, Kathleen.
Gannon, Gary.
Guirke, Johnny.
Healy-Rae, Danny.
Healy-Rae, Michael.
Howlin, Brendan.
Kelly, Alan.
Kenny, Martin.
Kerrane, Claire.
Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
McGrath, Mattie.
McNamara, Michael.
Munster, Imelda.
Murphy, Catherine.
Murphy, Paul.
Mythen, Johnny.
Nash, Ged.
Nolan, Carol.
O'Callaghan, Cian.
O'Reilly, Louise.
O'Rourke, Darren.
Ó Broin, Eoin.
Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
Quinlivan, Maurice.
Ryan, Patricia.
Shanahan, Matt.
Shortall, Róisín.
Smith, Duncan.
Stanley, Brian.
Tóibín, Peadar.
Tully, Pauline.
Whitmore, Jennifer.
Wynne, Violet-Anne.

Staon

Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hildegarde Naughton and Cormac Devlin; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

Amendment declared carried.

Amendment No. 1 not moved.

Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."

The Dáil divided: Tá, 67; Níl, 53; Staon, 0.

Tá

Brophy, Colm.
Browne, James.
Bruton, Richard.
Burke, Colm.
Butler, Mary.
Cahill, Jackie.
Cannon, Ciarán.
Chambers, Jack.
Collins, Niall.
Costello, Patrick.
Cowen, Barry.
Creed, Michael.
Crowe, Cathal.
Devlin, Cormac.
Dillon, Alan.
Donnelly, Stephen.
Duffy, Francis Noel.
Durkan, Bernard J.
English, Damien.
Farrell, Alan.
Feighan, Frankie.
Flaherty, Joe.
Flanagan, Charles.
Fleming, Sean.
Foley, Norma.
Griffin, Brendan.
Harris, Simon.
Haughey, Seán.
Higgins, Emer.
Humphreys, Heather.
Kehoe, Paul.
Lahart, John.
Leddin, Brian.
Madigan, Josepha.
Martin, Catherine.
Matthews, Steven.
McAuliffe, Paul.
McConalogue, Charlie.
McEntee, Helen.
McGrath, Michael.
McGuinness, John.
McHugh, Joe.
Moynihan, Aindrias.
Moynihan, Michael.
Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
Naughton, Hildegarde.
Noonan, Malcolm.
O'Brien, Darragh.
O'Brien, Joe.
O'Callaghan, Jim.
O'Dea, Willie.
O'Donnell, Kieran.
O'Dowd, Fergus.
O'Gorman, Roderic.
O'Sullivan, Christopher.
O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
Ó Cuív, Éamon.
Phelan, John Paul.
Rabbitte, Anne.
Richmond, Neale.
Ring, Michael.
Ryan, Eamon.
Smith, Brendan.
Smyth, Niamh.
Smyth, Ossian.
Stanton, David.

Níl

Andrews, Chris.
Bacik, Ivana.
Barry, Mick.
Berry, Cathal.
Boyd Barrett, Richard.
Brady, John.
Browne, Martin.
Buckley, Pat.
Carthy, Matt.
Clarke, Sorca.
Collins, Joan.
Conway-Walsh, Rose.
Crowe, Seán.
Cullinane, David.
Daly, Pa.
Doherty, Pearse.
Donnelly, Paul.
Ellis, Dessie.
Funchion, Kathleen.
Gannon, Gary.
Guirke, Johnny.
Healy-Rae, Danny.
Healy-Rae, Michael.
Howlin, Brendan.
Kelly, Alan.
Kenny, Martin.
Kerrane, Claire.
Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
McGrath, Mattie.
McNamara, Michael.
Munster, Imelda.
Murphy, Catherine.
Murphy, Paul.
Mythen, Johnny.
Nash, Ged.
Nolan, Carol.
O'Callaghan, Cian.
O'Reilly, Louise.
O'Rourke, Darren.
Ó Broin, Eoin.
Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
Quinlivan, Maurice.
Ryan, Patricia.
Shanahan, Matt.
Shortall, Róisín.
Smith, Duncan.
Stanley, Brian.
Tóibín, Peadar.
Tully, Pauline.
Whitmore, Jennifer.
Wynne, Violet-Anne.

Staon

Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hildegarde Naughton and Cormac Devlin; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

Question declared carried.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 8 Nov 2023