Mr. Eugene Cummins:

I am pleased to be here this afternoon to assist the committee in its examination of the issues and challenges facing all of us in respect of housing and homelessness. I am accompanied by my colleagues, Mr. Dick Brady, assistant city manager of Dublin City Council, Mr. Billy Coman, director of services of South Dublin County Council, and Mr. Cathal Morgan, director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.

The primary focus of local authorities is on social, economic and community development at local level, with social housing provision, social housing accommodation and homelessness having our absolute priority and full allocation of resources and efforts. Specifically, on housing, the local authorities are continually striving to match an increasing and diverse client profile with appropriate solutions. We are the planning authorities and the housing authorities and we have a very important role in facilitating housing provision and development with the private sector and the approved housing bodies. I am conscious that the emphasis today is on how the obstacles that are currently impeding progress on the issue can be surmounted and the specific actions that need to be taken to achieve urgent implementation of measures to address the problems involved.

Let me make it clear that the local authorities are dealing with the issues as a matter of urgency and with the attention that they undoubtedly deserve. For the sake of context, I feel it is important to note the following. In 2010, there were 2,846 unfinished housing developments in the country. The number has now reduced to under 700, resulting in 2,178 completions. In the same year, there were 23,250 complete and vacant houses in the country. The number is now down to under 2,500 houses as a result of local authority intervention, which has resulted in a further 20,700 houses being brought back into use. Local authorities acquired more than 1,000 properties last year. A new streamlined process for delivering social housing units of under €2,000,000 or 15 units in size has been approved, resulting in a quicker turnaround time. NAMA delivered 2,000 units for social housing by the end of last year.

Since its introduction, the housing assistance payment, HAP, has supported 8,000 households in the private rented sector across 19 local authorities with a target of 10,000 for this year. Increased rent supports on a case by case basis in HAP and rent supplement are now in place to reflect market conditions. Vacancy rates in social housing are down to as low as 1% in Dublin city. The first public private partnership was announced in October of last year and this will provide 500 homes across six sites in the greater Dublin area. The first 22 rapid build housing units are nearing completion and there is a target of 500 to be delivered in the Dublin region by the end of next year.

A new tenant purchase scheme was introduced in January of this year, providing opportunities for tenants to become home owners. The scheme is open to tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme and who have been in receipt of social housing support for a minimum period of one year and have a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum. An increasing number of local authorities have implemented a choice-based letting allocation system, empowering clients to have more options and say in the process. Funding for homeless services has increased by 32% since 2014. The sleeping rough figures fell by 46% in Dublin between November 2014 and November of last year.

Also, legislative and policy developments have been introduced to respond to the current crisis. These include a reformed Part V of the Planning and Development Act, changes in the private rented sector to limit rent reviews to every two years and the introduction of free mediation. A vacant site levy will apply from 2019 and new national apartment planning guidelines have been introduced. The Government has committed €10 million for an affordable rental scheme pilot in 2016, which works on the basis of tenants paying the majority of the rental costs from their own resources, with the State providing a subsidy to meet the shortfall. It is aimed at those on low to medium-sized incomes.

Let us be clear. A multifaceted approach is required to tackle these complex issues.

This needs a concerted effort and collaboration by all parties, including the political and regulatory system, the banking sector, the private rented sector, the construction industry and all those delivering housing solutions, including local authorities. We all need to understand that there are three key issues to be addressed, namely, supply versus demand, affordability and the need for developers to come back into the market. I will examine these one by one.

The first question is supply versus demand. As there has been little or no development over many years, the rate of growth of demand exceeds the rate of increase in supply. The population growth figures continue to rise, forcing a high demand for housing, and both social housing and private housing clients are competing for the same limited supply of units. There is an imbalance of availability within the major cities under pressure as compared with other counties. To address the demand problem, all stakeholders need to examine how to help people to get a mortgage to buy a home or rent. If we do not address affordability in accommodation, especially supports for low-income families, the problem will put increased pressure on public housing and funding. Caution is needed in keeping buyers with mortgage repayments or renters with rent repayments in place since the alternative only increases demand and tends to push up housing costs.

The question of affordability must be addressed. Many of those in employment are forced out of the market and into the private rented sector due to the lack of credit available for purchases and the lack of supply, thus driving up the price of units. The high cost of living is hampering the ability of individuals to save to purchase. These issues need to be addressed. There is also an increasing number of householders being displaced due to financial pressures. This is a concerning trend. We need to make every aspect of housing provision more affordable, including the cost of land, construction, labour, financing etc. We need to revisit tax incentives and credits for affordable housing. State investment in infrastructure for housing is required to reduce development contributions. Furthermore, we need to look at some of the additional costs of regulation.

The financial services market has an obligation to be part of the solution and should make credit available. There is a need for developers to come back into the market. We need to address the equity gap between the support of borrowing by banks and the willingness of developers as well as the capability to provide the required equity. Developers are protecting profit margins and balance sheet figures by not readily providing the required equity and, therefore, limiting the drawdown of credit. The continued move to availability of credit is important.

Like every other sector in Irish society, developers suffered in the economic downturn. We need to create an environment where quality developers and builders have the opportunity to share their experience and skills in building sustainable and quality homes for our citizens.

I call on the members of the committee to consider the issue of sustainable communities, whereby local authorities can plan accessible and well-serviced areas for all communities to thrive with easy accessibility to schools, community facilities, shopping centres and employment.

All citizens are stakeholders in this. We all need to adopt a culture that respects our communities and we all have a role in contributing to the provision and development of a good quality of life for our neighbours and ourselves. There are local difficulties with Part VIII provisions and there is no place in the mix for professional objectors who significantly frustrate local authorities and those engaged in the process of providing social housing. Changes in household composition and a trend toward smaller household sizes mean that the type of housing we will need will be different from the current stock.

I remind the committee of the serious challenges that all stakeholders must address as a matter of urgency. Homelessness is still an immediate priority, especially the growth in homeless families. The February homeless figures show a total of 5,811 as being homeless. Of these, a total of 3,930 are adults and 1,800 are children. There are 62,000 mortgages on principal dwellings and 29,000 buy-to-let mortgages in arrears of more than 90 days at the end of 2015.

In addition, 121,000 principal dwelling mortgages were categorised as restructured and there were also 5,200 local authority mortgages in arrears. Demand for housing continues to outstrip supply, particularly in the Dublin region. Of 12,660 housing completions last year, a little over one fifth were located in the four Dublin local authority areas. The demand for housing is particularly acute in Dublin. It has been estimated that 60% of the additional housing is needed in Dublin alone. All local authorities will continue to work hard with the key stakeholders and those affected to overcome these challenges. We need practical support and solutions to enable us to continue this work. It is becoming increasingly difficult for local authorities to lease or rent properties. The number of suitable buildings available for purchase by either local authorities or approved housing bodies, AHBs, is also reducing.

The funding provided under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 is significant and increasing rent caps would have a negative impact on an already stretched market. The immediate concern for local authorities is the supply-and-demand situation. Unless the private sector returns to building properties immediately the problem, including homelessness, is going to get worse. It would be remiss of me to conclude without putting on record the excellent relationship that exists between the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the approved housing bodies, the Housing Agency and the local authorities but the absence of the private sector is a major concern for us all because without it the problem will continue to worsen.