Ms Caroline Timmons:

I thank the Senator for her questions and I might start with the point she made on apartments. It is a good point to make that we need to make more apartments available for owner-occupiers, particularly in our urban areas.

We launched the croí cónaithe scheme today which will incentivise the development of apartments in urban areas. It is designed to bring forward apartments of four storeys or more in urban centres, which is in all of our cities of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. It will look at the gap between the development cost of apartments, which is very high, and the sales price to owner occupiers, which is one of the reasons that they are not available for owner occupiers. It is simply not economical currently for developers to bring these forward. That scheme is specifically designed to bring up to and over 5,000 apartments for sale to owner occupiers over the next few years. That is one way in which Housing for All is addressing that particular point.

On renters and older people, Senator Moynihan is making an interesting point. Approximately 84% of older people own their own homes and we have a very high percentage of such ownership in the country. The phenomenon of older people renting is a relatively new phenomenon. A very high percentage of older people also own their property without a mortgage. It is probably one of the wealthier cohorts but we will see a small percentage coming to the social housing waiting list and we are looking at that. It is still a very small percentage of the overall list and local authorities are good at dealing with that and in providing housing for older people. We need to keep an eye on that to ensure that we are planning for provision for the future.

The same outlets for supply, and for the supply of affordable accommodation in particular, apply to older people, equally, as they do to anybody else. We need to bring cost rental forward at scale together with affordable housing and a supply of social housing for those who would be eligible for such housing, and ensure that it is available for older people.

The same avenues which address the wider housing crisis will also address housing for older people who are finding difficulties with their rent. Older people are also eligible to apply for social housing, as it stands, if their income qualifies them for that and can also get housing assistance payment. The tools are there to address this issue and it is a question of incorporating that into our planning as we go forward where we have a higher percentage, potentially, in that rental market.

On right-sizing, I hear the Senator’s points. I made points earlier on bringing forward that right-sizing policy, which I would expect will address the Senator’s points there.