Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To respond to the question on the potential increase of between €2 million and €6 million on the one-stage and the four-stage in the social housing approval process, I cannot confirm anything because I have not had an opportunity to consult the Department of Finance on the need for a derogation and whether such a derogation would be forthcoming. As we made clear as a Government at the time, most projects coming before the Department could come in under the one-stage approval process and did not need to go through the four stages. There was a question as to how necessary a derogation was but we agreed to review and change the threshold if it was seen to be justified. On foot of the review and taking a look at the projects coming through, the speed at which they are being completed, new innovations we are bringing forward to cut the timelines, some of the projects that have come to us from local authorities, which are not proper projects and have to be set back, losing time, and the risk is that might increase, my fear is that it would be reckless to change the threshold, although I have not had a chance to discuss the matter in detail with the Department of Finance because other conversations are ongoing given the time of year. I want to have that conversation with the Department before we come to a conclusion but I was clear with Deputy O'Brien in our previous engagement at the committee as to what my understanding was from those engagements around this time last year.

On the question about homelessness, the Deputy outlined a number of facts about what is happening with the homelessness issue. We cannot and should not pretend we do not have a massive challenge and that it will continue to be a challenge in the future. From the experts in the local authorities, on the front line and in some of the leading non-governmental organisations, we have learned that the problem has stabilised. We continue to have a serious challenge because it is still true there is net immigration and not enough homes are being built. We will continue to have to deal with the challenge but part of the reason I am trying to improve the details and data we have is to enable a national understanding of what is happening. Some 1,400 people exited homelessness in the second quarter of this year, which was a 21% increase on the previous year, while some 2,800 exited in the first half of the year, an increase of more than 20% on the same period last year. Some 532 of the exits into social housing equated to a 52% increase, meaning that more people are entering social housing than are entering the private rented sector from emergency accommodation or homelessness, which shows that new homes we are producing and providing for social housing are helping people who are experience housing insecurity.

Presentations in Dublin have fallen, as has the number of people entering emergency accommodation in Dublin. In the first half of this year, for every two families who presented we found a home for one immediately. Even though there have been continuing presentations of families and individuals in their thousands over the course of the past year, fewer families and children are in emergency accommodation than there were a year ago, which speaks to the considerable work being done by everyone working on the front line with us. It continues to be a significant challenge, however, and we will continue to have to allocate resources to it. Given that more than 2,000 homes begin construction on site every month, as is happening, and given there is a commitment and money to deliver approximately 10,000 new homes to the stock of social housing this year, we will make serious in-roads and continue to help thousands of people either exit emergency accommodation or escape the housing insecurity that has made them present as homeless in the first place.

On affordability, prices have fallen for a while. There was double-digit growth throughout 2018, but that has fallen to low single-digit growth nationally while in areas of Dublin it is falling. To put that in perspective, a total of 88% of first-time buyers buy their home for less than €250,000 outside the greater Dublin area, Cork and Galway. For first-time buyers in those areas, one in two buys a home for less than €320,000. Two people earning the average industrial wage can afford to buy a house and secure a mortgage from a bank, not from a local authority, and buy a home at that price point. In Dublin, a total of 40% buy their home for €320,000 or less, which tells the story of the affordability challenge we face. It is not nationwide but it is quite acute in certain areas. That prices are falling in parts of Dublin is welcome but it is not true to say we have not delivered any affordable homes under affordability schemes.

Measures such as the Ó Cualann model are possible only because they have been taken by Dublin City Council and the other local authorities. Homes with the LIHAF cost reduction are already on sale. In 2020, affordable homes will be completed as per the timelines presented to me by the various stakeholders bringing the projects forward. I believe that the site under construction in Enniskerry Road, a two-bedroom apartment at €1,200, will be affordable, at €600 for each person paying the rent. It was not easy to get there, however. The Housing Agency, the National Development Finance Agency, Tuath Housing, Respond, my Department, the European Investment Bank, and the Housing Finance Agency - a number of actors - were involved to try to get us to a place where we could provide those types of affordable rents. Let us not forget what we are doing in respect of the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, which received a significant increase in funding following the engagements I had with the Minister for Finance, and the help-to-buy scheme, which has helped more than 12,000 people to get a home.

On the report on O'Devaney Gardens, I spoke to Dublin City Council about the matter. Four homes will cost €420,000 but Dublin City Council informed me that it will re-examine the matter and that no homes will cost more than €400,000. Notwithstanding that, the majority of the homes will cost less than €310,000, which, as I noted, is affordable for people earning the average industrial wage. In the case of other Dublin sites, such as in Ballyfermot and Ballymun, using the serviced sites fund there will be homes for less than €200,000. We will use land to continue to increase affordability and bring forward such schemes. The purpose of the Land Development Agency is to bring forward affordable housing but that is not just the mandate of the agency but rather of the whole Government. In any Department or State agency where development is under way for housing, 30% must be secured for affordable housing, which has a deflationary impact on land prices more generally and will help push down prices.

I continue to keep issues under review in respect of affordable building and delivery. We continue to consult people working in the sector and hear their proposals to lock more affordability into what is happening in the housing sector. As I have always stated clearly, the old ways of thinking, namely, that if we build enough social housing homes, it will bring about affordable housing, has not worked in other cities. The Government has to step in to bridge the affordability gap, which is precisely what we are doing with our various initiatives.