Mr. Paul Hogan:

It is probably best dealt with in a housing strategy document. There are objectives in Housing for All with regard to vacancy and bringing units back into reuse. We have not proven the concept to such an extent that we could rely on it in a planning document on a national scale. There is probably scope to do things like that in individual cities or towns where there is proactive ambition. That could be encouraged and we would certainly support it, but it would be premature for us to issue a national target at this point without the proven track record and level of delivery. I see it as being possible for sure in a future iteration of the NPF but it needs to be proven first in smaller-scale areas in order to understand it better. It is a direction that we are keen to move towards.

I mentioned the concept of housing from all sources. There is an assumption that it is either all greenfield or it must be half brownfield or whatever else. However, there is a full range of sources that includes repurposing existing buildings and sites, addressing vacancy, bringing about changes of use, and even subdivision. There is a lot to be considered further in all of that.