Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and Minister of State. While I think reviewing Rebuilding Ireland is a good idea now that we have a new Minister, and I know that process is ongoing, I would be very concerned about any delays that might cause in terms of implementing the various actions which are in the programme. Clearly there has been delay already in respect of a number of the actions, such as the rapid build programme for example. This programme was meant to have delivered a considerable number of houses by now but it has only delivered 22, which were delivered quite early on and which were in train before the Government even came into office. I am very concerned and I hope the Minister will not allow the various elements of the reviews which are taking place to delay in any way the necessary actions.

In that regard I would particularly like to talk about the vacant homes strategy, which the Minister has just told us will be delayed. We have been expecting that on an ongoing basis. It was due to be delivered in the first quarter of this year and still has not been published. That is a real opportunity to provide homes for people more quickly than by constructing them. The fact that we have nearly 200,000 vacant houses in the country, excluding holiday homes, and that a large number of those are in our urban centres and in our cities in particular, is a real opportunity and there is not the sense of urgency which there should be with regard to bringing a reasonable percentage of those homes back into use, to be used by people who are currently homeless or on housing waiting lists.

If one looks at the average number of empty houses per head of population in other comparable countries, our percentage is much higher. There are examples from which we can learn. For example, the Peter McVerry Trust has suggested many times that there should be vacant homes officers in every local authority. Their job would be to find out proactively why houses, homes and apartments in their area of responsibility are vacant and to produce practical proposals for bringing them back into use. I support Deputy Ellis's comment that these proposals may well have to involve compulsory purchase orders, but there are other ways.

I know we have schemes, such as the repair and leasing scheme and the buy and renew scheme but, when talking to those involved in the sector, I am being told that these schemes are not delivering as quickly as they should be and that elements of these schemes are causing delay and difficulty and are unnecessarily bureaucratic. One would think that it would be relatively simple for the voluntary housing sector or the public housing sector, the local authorities, to go out and either buy and renovate these houses or to get involved in the repair and leasing scheme, but apparently there are difficulties. Surely it should not be too difficult to iron out those problems because they are the low-hanging fruit and they are opportunities which are there. I have seen examples of houses being bought by the local authority - in the centre of towns in particular - then being renovated by local builders and given to people who are on the housing waiting lists. These are very practical ways in which we can provide homes for people.

I would support the Minister if he were to bring in a tax on vacant homes. If that is one of the reasons he is saying that he will have to delay until after the budget, let us by all means move on some of the other measures and then bring this tax in at that time. I would certainly support it because we need the stick as well as the carrot.

I also support what Deputy Ellis said on those interesting statistics about the cost of building. The construction industry is telling us all the time that it cannot afford to build because there is not enough of a return and that it has to factor in the cost of building, the cost of the site, the cost of borrowing money and so on. The fact that the Minister has a background in finance should enable him to figure out whether these arguments are true and to challenge the construction sector. The Minister has said that he will fast-track the legislation on existing permissions. There is existing permission for more than 20,000 homes in the Dublin area. Why are they not being built? There is a demand, particularly in the greater Dublin area. I hope the Minister will challenge the construction sector in that regard.

On some of the other issues, it is a huge disappointment that the target for families in hotels has not been reached, particularly for people who are living in hotels with their children and who have been telling their children that they will get a home. Even if it is a hub, it is better than a hotel. They are now realising that will not happen. I will be introducing a Bill next week in respect of the rights of children of families who are homeless. This Bill will ensure that what happened recently, where families were sent to Garda stations and one family slept in a park, will not happen again. I hope to introduce that Bill next week. The rapid delivery has clearly also been delayed.

I would like to refer to the fact that my colleague in the Seanad, Senator Kevin Humphreys, is introducing a Bill in respect of Airbnb. While Airbnb is clearly a positive for short-term rentals in some cases, it is causing displacement. Homes are being used on a full-time basis where they could be available to families. That needs to be addressed as well.

I am particularly anxious to stress the opportunity that exists for the construction of mixed tenure estates, including significant numbers of social housing units, in the more than 700 publicly owned sites. Public funds are being spent on infrastructure for those sites. I strongly urge that the private building sector not be allowed to profit from those publicly owned sites. There is a real opportunity to have a mixed tenure of social housing, affordable rental and affordable purchase on the sites. I was disappointed with an interaction we had with the previous Minister about these sites during the last Question Time with him. It appears that each local authority will have to devise its own plan for each site and bring it to the Department for approval. That could drag on for years. I strongly urge the establishment of a national affordable housing scheme or a national approach to these sites. The control would be in the public sector and builders could tender to build the houses in those areas. There should be a requirement for a certain percentage for each of the different sectors of social, affordable, affordable rental and so forth.

This is a great opportunity. The State owns these sites, rather than them being privately owned, so it can drive the process. Given the crisis that exists, the State must drive this, not sit back and rely on the private sector which clearly does not wish to build until a significant profit can be made. It is understandable that it has to make some profit-----

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