Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The fact is that if one looks at the number of affordable homes that were promised for this year in the last budget only eight homes were delivered. It was not the Minister of State's party but Fianna Fáil that promised 10,000 affordable homes per year in its election manifesto. It delivered eight. I appreciate there was a pandemic, but it is not excusable to have that amount of capital funding unspent going into next year. It is not excusable when the sites were open to build social homes, and it does not explain the lack of delivery of affordable homes and cost-rental homes.

If one wishes to see further evidence of the lack of urgency in the Government's approach to housing, one need look no further than what the Government is proposing in respect of vacancy. Despite a commitment given by senior Ministers at the launch of Housing for All that there would be a vacant homes tax in 2022, and they signalled it would be announced in this budget, there is no mention of a vacant homes tax. They gave that commitment at the press conference at the launch of Housing for All in Dublin Castle when they were pressed on this by journalists. Where is that vacant homes tax? As regards vacancy, there are more than 90,000 vacant homes around the country that could and should be brought into use. In addition, there are thousands of vacant commercial buildings that also could be brought into use for housing.

Look at what the Government is doing about vacant zoned lands. Yes, it says it will introduce a tax, but it will not be implemented for another two years. Where is the sense of urgency in that? When it comes to the rate at which it will be set, while the current vacant sites levy is at 7% the Government is saying this new tax will be set at only 3%. Where this tax is needed most and where vacant zoned land needs to be brought into use most, the land is increasing in value by well beyond 3% per year, so the level of 3% will be insufficient to ensure that where we most need to bring zoned land into use to provide housing it will not be enough to mitigate against the increased value that land accrues when landowners with zoned land sit on it. It will be no surprise that this measure is insufficient to deal with the current amount of zoned vacant land sitting idle which should be brought into use.

Dr. Rory Hearne has done some excellent work by publishing testimonies from people about their experiences renting or trying to buy a home. This is what one person had to say:

I'm a 31 year old, single, primary school teacher living in Dublin. ... I'm quitting my permanent job in Dublin to move back home to Mayo because I can't afford to buy in Dublin. ... It could take me years to get a permanent job, and therefore a mortgage in Mayo, but I'll never afford to buy in Dublin so I have no choice.

This is the reality for many people who have good jobs but simply cannot afford to buy a home. This is the reality this budget fails to address. The Government is promising just 4,000 affordable homes in the budget. That is far short of the 10,000 affordable homes that were promised by Fianna Fáil in the last election, and it is far short of what is required. However, even this number of 4,000 homes is fiction. Almost half of these homes will not be affordable at all, and are due to be delivered under the proposed shared equity scheme. Even with that, we must ask how confident should we be that the Government will meet its targets for delivery in 2022.

In last year's budget, the Government promised 750 affordable homes in the shared equity scheme. Not a single home has been delivered under that scheme to date and it is not clear a single home will ever be delivered under that scheme, given the very stern warning issued by Central Bank that the shared equity scheme will inflate house prices and fuel house price inflation. In last year's budget, a further 1,850 homes were promised under the serviced sites fund and the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, but only eight affordable homes have been delivered so far this year using those funds. Promises of affordable homes are of no use. Photo ops of Ministers turning sods are of no use. We need actual affordable homes to be built.

In The JournalMichelle Hennessy recently published real-life testimonies from renters that give a powerful insight into the reality of renting in Ireland today. Here is one testimony:

I am 50 years old. I moved back to Ireland in 2015, after 20 years abroad. I pay €1,200 a month for a one-bedroom flat in Dublin. I earn €50,000 per annum.

I can afford a mortgage on a house worth €200,000. There are no available properties in my budget. I am looking to emigrate again as I do not wish to be a homeless pensioner in Ireland. The lack of protection for renters in this country is disgusting.

Since Fine Gael took office a decade ago, rents have almost doubled. The rent pressure zones brought in by the previous Government have failed. The latest figures show that the 4% rent caps have been breached in every county in Ireland. What does the budget do for renters? Nothing. This budget fails renters. What would the Social Democrats do? We would introduce a three-year ban on rent increases. We would take up to 20,000 households out of the private rented sector through building social, cost rental and affordable homes. We would introduce the deposit protection scheme which was legislated for years ago but is still to be enacted by the Government which is sitting on it. We would increase funding for inspections in the private rental sector for €2 million. We would establish a rent register to create transparency for renters and prevent illegal rent increases.

The latest figures show the number of children and families living in emergency accommodation is increasing, with two children becoming homeless every day. More than 8,000 people are living in emergency accommodation. In this context it is hard to believe the Government is cutting the amount spent on supporting people who are experiencing homelessness. Under the budget and as announced in Housing for All, there will be a very modest increase the number of Housing First tenancies, rising from 220 new Housing First tenancies this year to just 240 next year. Is this really the best that can be done? We know the Housing First tenancies work and we also know the Housing First is very is cost effective. It is a good use of resources and is much better than continuing to plough millions of euro into emergency accommodation. Why are we not radically increasing the number of Housing First tenancies when we know it works and there is cross-party agreement on it?

The Social Democrats have published fully costed proposals to double the number of Housing First tenancies and to introduce Housing First tenancies for families with complex needs. As I know that people in government agree on this, I appeal to the Government to increase radically the number of Housing First tenancies. That could be done if we had not cut the funding for homelessness in this year's budget. I know there was additional funding last year due to the Covid pandemic. If we use that money this year for Housing First tenancies, we could make large inroads into homelessness. I do not understand why it is not being done. I appeal to the Minister to look at that. It could be done and there would be cross-party support for that measure.

The international funds are having a laugh at the Irish Government and making a lot of money in the process. They are not my words or the words of Deputies Shortall, Whitmore, Catherine Murphy or anyone else from the Opposition. They are the words of the billionaire, Dermot Desmond. In letters to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, he stated:

...leasing social housing from private developers and investment funds is a criminal waste of public money ... this misguided strategy has left housing in Ireland prey to greedy developers and international investors ... you might as well hand out blank cheques

It should not take the words of a billionaire to get the Government to wake up and listen. Many of us have warned that facilitating international investment funds and giving them sweetheart deals on long-term leases is a terrible misuse of public funds. Across the country thousands of people are asking if the budget will address that. These are the words of Elizabeth Weir from Ennis, County Clare:

I’m in a good job, I’m on a good career path but housing is just too expensive.

The Government absolutely has to build more affordable housing. There needs to be a stop on large companies buying up all the properties and renting them back to us.

However, this budget provides more money for long-term leases through investment funds. The budget provides funding for 2,620 leases to be done next year. Despite the Government promising to phase it out, it has actually been ramped up.

The Government approach on housing has been nothing short of a disaster. Rents and house prices are among the highest in Europe. The Government is turbocharging house prices and rents. The focus has been on stimulating and attracting the wrong kind of investment, the kind of investment that pushes up rents and prices to unaffordable and unsustainable levels, the kind of investment that crowds out and pushes out individual buyers, the kind of investment that chooses to leave homes empty instead of reducing the rent to make them more affordable. That is yet another reason to have a vacant homes tax and we need it now.

This budget continues with the failed policies of subsidising landlords, providing tax breaks for investment funds and giving taxpayers' money to developers. Under this budget, subsidies for landlords will continue. Almost €1 billion will be spent next year on subsidising rents in the private rented sector through the housing assistance payment, HAP, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and long-term leasing. That is almost €1 billion in subsidies to private landlords that will actually drive up rents. Instead we need to build thousands of publicly owned homes to end the reliance on these subsidies to private landlords. Under this budget, the favourable tax treatment of investment funds remains intact. These tax locals loopholes need to be shut down to give individual buyers a fair chance to buy their homes. The budget provides for more than €100 million in subsidies for developers, delivered through the proposed shared equity scheme and the Croí Cónaithe fund. The ESRI and the Central Bank have warned consistently that the shared equity scheme will fuel house price inflation. A similar scheme in the UK led not only to an increase in house prices, but also a surge in profits for developers.

What matters most is not promises made by Government but actual delivery. Last year's budget promised 350 cost rental homes. This year only 25 homes have been delivered with the possibility of another 50 before the end of the year. Last year's budget promised that 170 vacant homes would be renovated under a repair-and-lease scheme. In the first six months of this year, only 33 were. Despite all the promises made last year on affordable homes, this year only eight affordable homes are being delivered. The Government's record is abysmal.

We need to end wasting hundreds of millions of euro on subsidies for developers and investment funds. We need to invest this money instead in directly building housing that is genuinely affordable.

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