Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I also want to come in on this very point. All I see in my constituency are long leases. Properties are leased for 25 years at 90% of market rent with reviews at four-year intervals. That is in cases where the maintenance is done. When the maintenance is not covered, 80% of market rent is paid. At the end of that period, the property is still owned by the developer. I cannot see where the housing stock is going to come from in future. All I see are the housing assistance payment, HAP, and long leases. I could point the witnesses to six such developments being acquired under long leases, some of which are replacing units that were expected to be purchased under Part V. Other whole estates are completed and it is expected that they are going to go on the market. People tell me that they were waiting in the hope that they could stay in the area in which they grew up, where these are the only developments under way, only to find that, all of a sudden, these units are to be put out under long leases of 25 years. I cannot see how value for money could possibly be achieved in that way. We can use all sorts of language about things being off-balance sheet, blended mixes and so on but, at the end of the day, we need to build houses and add to our housing stock and this is not the way to do that.

To be perfectly honest, all I can see in the figures I receive through parliamentary questions is that the percentage of housing delivered in this way is growing. I hear that developers are encouraged to suggest this option to the local authority. That encouragement must be coming from the Department if that is the case. Perhaps the mix in my area is different from that in others because I do not believe the local authority in my constituency owns any land which is designated for housing, but how can this be considered good value for money? HAP is another issue. Since 2014, I have been giving out about HAP and about how it is not a short-term measure and was the only measure available for a long time. We have spent an absolute fortune on these measures which deliver no permanent assets and, in the case of HAP, do not deliver any certainty either.