Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It has been more than 30 years since homeownership peaked in Ireland. In 1991, 80% of Irish people were homeowners, while private rental accounted for 8% and social rental stood at 10%. At that time, there were 2,700 people registered as homeless. The Ireland of today is vastly different to the Ireland of 1991. There are more than 9,000 people classified as homeless and 67% of Irish people are homeowners. While across Europe homeownership rates are increasing, in Ireland they are falling. The age at which people apply for their first mortgage is increasing, largely due to the fact that the cost of renting is extortionate and the ability to save towards the cost of buying is diminishing more every year.

The cost of buying a home has soared by an average of 14% across the country. The supply of affordable homes available for purchase is historically low. The availability of rental properties is sparse, which leads to frightening rents being demanded.

The Government has set a target to promote the construction of up to 400,000 houses over the next decade. This averages 40,000 homes per year. It is worth noting that this figure was announced before the need was identified to provide homes for Ukrainian refugees who have been forced to take up residence in Ireland.

The Government's figures are ambitious. Are they even close to being realistic? According to 20 of the country’s top developers, the figures are far from realistic. Their target is closer to 125,000 homes over the coming ten years, which is far removed from Government’s aspirations.

The reason for pessimism is that not enough land is zoned across the country for residential building. Developers are describing the unavailability of fully serviced land for housebuilding as a crisis. Combined with the spiralling cost of building materials, this adds another layer of crisis to the ever-escalating housing calamity.

The construction industry has expressed a view that it will run out of land in the next two to three years. One leading developer has stated publicly that they may have to stop building houses completely for at least six years. Yet housing must be provided. Homes must be made available to meet the growing needs of Irish people and those who have made Ireland their new home.

The solution to the crisis must lie, to a significant extent, in investing in renovating vacant properties. Every city, town and village in the country has a number of vacant properties that could be renovated and refurbished to become family homes. Across Ireland, there are more than 90,000 vacant properties. In Tipperary alone, it is estimated there are up to 3,000 empty dwellings located across urban and rural areas.

Some of these houses fell into disrepair after they were repossessed by lending institutions and left idle. Some were left vacant after the passing of the owners. There are endless reasons that a house can become vacant. For the most part, these endless reasons provide significant opportunities to address the need to provide social housing or private homes. These opportunities need to be examined as a matter of urgency.

A time limit needs to be introduced on how long a property can be left in limbo at a time when people across the country are crying out for homes. This should be coupled with low-interest loans for home buyers so as to make taking on a renovation project more appealing. This is a vital incentive. Without addressing this aspect of bringing vacant houses back into use, the idea will die before it ever has a chance to prove its worth.

If the focus was switched away from acquiring high-cost serviced land to provide new build homes on the outskirts of cities, towns and villages, it would have multiple positive impacts. Repurposing vacant houses in towns would help to revitalise town centres. Apart from the obvious bonus of making them more attractive, population growth invariably leads to increased demand for services. These services, such as shops, schools and high-speed broadband, not only meet the needs of newcomers to the community, but also improve day-to-day life for everyone in the area. Rather than focusing attention on the almost impossible task of acquiring serviced land for new developments, incentives should be put in place for builders and tradesmen to turn vacant properties into family homes. This, in turn, would create employment in the building sector.

At the present time, we not only need to think outside the box, but to act as well. There are options, there are solutions, and they should be put in place. People need homes now.

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