Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Again, the issue is a very serious one. Rents are too high for people. There are not enough houses out there. We can see from the from the Daft report there are not enough apartments to rent. There is not enough housing out there to buy. The whole purpose of the Government policy over the past 12 months and since we came into office has been to increase the supply of housing dramatically. A total of 31,000 starts happened in 2021. That is the highest number of housing starts since 2008. We are going to continue with that acceleration of house building if we are allowed and if people just remove the obstacles and allow us to get housing and apartments built.

We are going to have to build different types of housing. There will be a very large public housing programme. We want more than 10,300 on average as part of that 33,000 overall houses to be built every year. We want to get up to that 33,000 target. Supply is key here. People can rightly raise the issue and so on, but equally, we need solutions. I am talking about solutions in terms of supply and the type of housing we provide and to enable people to afford housing. Cost rental is one of those models that is developing and is in its infancy in this country. I predict the cost rental model, which can offer a very substantial rent reductions below the market, will accelerate and be enhanced due to Government efforts in working with local authorities and others. Social housing is going to increase year on year, and specifically, direct builds. We are phasing out the leasing. We will increase direct builds on an unprecedented scale. Also, there will be 4,000-plus affordable houses built. That is what the State can do, but the private sector will be involved as well. It will also be providing housing and apartments, as has always been the case.

The one thing we cannot do is inhibit supply. It is easy to be political about this. I understand it fully and I have no issue with it, but I have to make sure we introduce the right policies for the long haul. We cannot develop housing policy on the basis of the outcome of the next election and who wins it or who does not. We now have to get a consistent housing policy that lasts the decade and brings stability to the market. The market is not stable right now; the rents are too high. However, a lot of thought has gone into this from people just outside of politicians in terms of what we need to do. I believe in a strong social housing programme and it is happening now. I believe in the idea of affordability and that we should help from the State perspective. I believe in the idea of cost rental. However, I also believe that we need private sector investment as well. I think the Deputies in opposition need to speak out on that. Do they believe in private sector investment at all in the housing market or is it their view we should continue the decline in the number of landlords? They are leaving the market. We do not have enough rental properties. We do not have enough houses built for people to buy. We want more owner-occupiers. We want to give people the chance to buy their homes, which is why the shared equity and help-to-buy schemes and so on are coming in. There are huge issues here, and I acknowledge that. However, we need to be solution focused in terms of how we get to grips with it.

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