Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I know that. The Minister of State said that the council wanted to see housing development on this site on a 30% social, 20% affordable and 50% private basis. This model is a win-win for developers because the vast majority of the homes will be sold for developer profit. We have a different vision. We want the St. Michael's Estate to be retained by the State in order to develop quality, safe, energy-smart public housing that will be affordable to rent for families, young couples and elderly people. According to the recent ALONE report, many older people are finding it stressful to get rented accommodation and they have no secure tenure into the future.

The St. Michael's Estate plan is a ready-made pilot project to change the way we deliver housing in Ireland. It would be a game changer if developed nationally over time. A report published by housing policy expert, Mel Reynolds, last week shows that the housing and homelessness crisis is unnecessary. He has put together information which indicates that 114,000 dwellings could be built on zoned land owned or controlled by the State. Within local authorities and NAMA there are over 3,000 ha of such land - 17% of all undeveloped zoned land in the State. Approximately 70,000 of these dwellings could be built in Dublin, thus eliminating the housing waiting lists of the four Dublin city councils - on which there are 40,000 families and individuals - 7,000 could be built in the constituency of Dublin South-Central and 2,000 in Inchicore. Only 2,378 houses were built by local authorities and housing bodies in 2016 and 2017, which is 4% of what could be done. Mel Reynolds has pointed out that if this level of building on public land is implemented, it would have a huge affect on land prices. This is the reason for the current housing crisis. The profits of speculators hoarding land come before meeting people's housing needs. A mass programme of public housing would also hit house prices and rents in the private sector. This is why it is not happening. When replying to the Topical Issue debate earlier, the Minister of State said that the Opposition is only interested in social housing and that we do not want private housing. I do not object to private housing on private land but I do object to private housing on public land, particularly in light of the current housing crisis.

In the few minutes remaining, I would like to read into the record the comments of a young girl named Nicola Quinn who is part of the St. Michael's Estate regeneration team. Her words epitomise the plight of young people and others who cannot afford to buy the houses being built by private developers and who also cannot afford to rent. She states:

A NEW PLAN for Inchicore means that ordinary young people like me can dream about renting at a price I can afford.

I’m 27 years of age. I’m a postgraduate student at University. I’m working with a global engineering company. I have friends and work colleagues from across the globe. I vote. I pay taxes. I have opinions, aims and aspirations. I’m a young, independent adult.

But I am living at home. Going through the same hall door since I was in a school uniform.

It’s the only living choice I have right now. And it’s the only choice that thousands more young adults like me have here in Dublin and across the country. Eurostat figures in 2016 tell us that a massive one in four Irish adults over 25 are living at home.

We are a generation trapped in our box rooms, locked out of the extortionate private rental market and unable to get a start on an out of reach housing ladder for ordinary people.

She goes on to say very eloquently:

I can at last begin to dream that there is a better way to do things, that there is a different way to think and plan for housing that ordinary people like me can aspire to and, above all, afford.

For over a year now I have been working with the St Michael’s Regeneration Team in Inchicore – where I grew up. I have met with the team every week, as a volunteer, to develop our plan for the 12 acres of green space that is right in the middle of our community.

What’s really ground-breaking about this proposal and what attracts me most to it is that all of houses on the site would be rented on a long term and secure basis, at a cost that is weighted according to people’s ability to pay. It’s called the cost rental model. It’s new here in Ireland but it is actually the successful rental model that has been in operation in countries across Europe for decades.

So say, you’re somebody with an income of about €30,000, your rent for a home suitable to you could be no more than €400 a month. Compare that with the €1,600 average it would cost me today to rent a two bedroom apartment off a private landlord or vulture fund in Inchicore and you can see immediately why I’m excited about this new, fair rent model. At last, it’s a housing model and a rent that I can live with.

This is the reality for many young people, bus services employees, rail services employees, post office employees, Eircom employees and retail outlet employees. Nicola also states:

Instead, what is proposed with the Fair Rent Model plan for Inchicore is that the 12 acres of public land is retained by the State – not given away. The State builds the homes, which the State continues to own, and then rents these homes to a mix of people – families, single people, older people – on a long term and secure basis.

The best bit about this proposal is that not only do people like me get the chance and the choice to live at a rent we can afford but that the State can recoup its initial outlay for building the homes.

So, at St Michael’s Estate, for example, if there were 300 one, two and three bedroom homes rented out, the State could expect to earn over €2 million every year – meaning that over a 25 or 30 year period the community would pay for itself.

This proposal has to be piloted on St. Michael's Estate. Councillors and the community can discuss the details in further detail. There are already 55 new houses in Thornton Heights and an old folks development is under way at site B on St. Michael's Estate. This can be a game changer for ordinary people who are priced out of the market.

See this speech in context