Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The launch yesterday of the Government's action plan falls well short of addressing the needs of families that are affected most by the housing crisis. There will be no solution to the housing crisis without a social aspect and there will be no solution without State intervention. The action plan for housing and homelessness launched yesterday is a case in point. There are some good points, but the plan is conservative in its outlook and where time is taken to expand on plans, they do not add up or are vague or misleading. For example, the action plan states that 1,500 rapid housing units will be finished by 2018. We have seen some of this before, as there was a rapid-delivery housing programme for homeless families then residing in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation rolled out in October 2015 by the Labour Party, which was part of the then Government, and which was to deliver 500 units by the end of this year. However, in an answer to a parliamentary question, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, told me last month that out of the 500 promised units, 22 were actually built in Ballymun, with the possibility of 171 being finished by the end of the year, and even this target is in doubt. Considering we are nowhere near completing the previous plan for rapid build housing, what are the chances of completing the 1,500 units before the end of 2018?

There are a number of excellent initiatives in the action plan for supports for families with children in emergency accommodation. These include dedicated child support workers, home-school community liaison, access to free public transport for school journeys and joined up supports between education, health and Tusla for homeless families, as well as important interventions to safeguard families in emergency accommodation. However it is not clear how all of this will be funded. Will the relevant Departments and bodies be expected to source the funding from their own budgets or will it be provided from somewhere else? The Minister knows as well as I do that funding will be the difference here.

The plan also allows for streamlining of planning processes for larger private housing developments. The proposal is for developments with over 100 houses to be referred straight to An Bord Pleanála, therefore bypassing the local council process, which was valuable for community input. Given that big developments will have the biggest impact on a local community, removing the local consultation part of the planning process would be a retrograde step. Part of the local accountability in planning comes after pre-planning consultations at local level and they often enhance or "community-proof" big developments.

By increasing the percentage of Part V units to at least 30% in special development zones, one could also provide for a mixture of affordable and social housing and other services related to correct community living. This will put mixed use estates, which are best practice across Europe, into our new developments and in turn re-energise these development zones.

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