Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

There is a social and affordable housing crisis. More than 100,000 families are languishing on local authority housing waiting lists. These families cannot afford to buy or build their own homes and cannot access mortgages. In addition, because the Government has slashed the income limits to qualify for local authority housing, thousands of other families cannot get on those lists, cannot access mortgages and are condemned to private rented accommodation for the rest of their lives.

Social and affordable house building by local authorities and voluntary housing agencies is almost non-existent. The local authority house building budget was decimated by the Government, down from €367 million in 2010 to €65 million in 2013. Similarly, the voluntary sector budget was reduced from €70 million in 2012 to €55 million in 2013. The local authority social and affordable house building programme has been privatised by the Government, by bailing out landlords and developers, by shoving €500 million of public money into their deep pockets through the payment of rent supplement each year and paying their mortgages over and over again through rental accommodation and leasing schemes.

The ESRI has advised that we need to treble the house building programme. We have read that the Government has a draft housing plan. However, based on press reports, it relies solely on financial incentives for developers to build. It also apparently proposes to remove the requirements for builders to provide a proportion of social and affordable housing in each development.

With 100,000 families on local authority housing waiting lists and thousands more who cannot get on those lists, will the Taoiseach ensure direct investment in local authority and voluntary housing agency house building? Are there any proposals in this plan, which the Government is apparently preparing, for such investment?

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