Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for tabling this motion and the valuable contributions they have made in the process of doing so. As set out in A Programme for Government: Our Shared Future, the Government believes that everybody should have access to good-quality housing to purchase or rent at an affordable price, built to a high standard and located close to essential services, offering a high quality of life. We understand that the provision of more affordable housing has a profound benefit socially and economically. We believe the State has a fundamental role in enabling the delivery of new homes and ensuring that best use is made of existing stock. I welcome the opportunity to discuss and debate these very important issues.

We have now translated our programme for Government mission, Housing for All, into a strategic housing plan for Ireland, which is a radical one that sets out four pathways to a sustainable housing system. The plan is backed by historic levels of investment in excess of €20 billion through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency, LDA, and the Housing Finance Agency over the next five years. The plan provides for an optimal mix of social, affordable and private housing for sale and rent. The plan is underpinned by measures to support availability of the land, the workforce, the funding and the capacity to enable the public and private sectors to meet targets.

The LDA has an immediate focus on managing the State’s lands to develop new homes, the majority of which will be social and affordable homes. The transfer of State lands to the LDA, with potential to produce 15,000 homes, is under way. Work at two sites, St. Kevin’s Hospital, Cork, and Shanganagh Castle, Dublin, will commence this year. These sites will deliver a total of 861 social and affordable homes. In addition, the LDA recently submitted a planning application for 977 social and affordable homes on the Central Mental Hospital site in Dundrum, with further planning applications on other sites to be submitted this month. The LDA has also launched Project Tosaigh to accelerate delivery of 5,000 homes on non-State lands where planning permission has already been granted but not yet activated. The first delivery stream of this LDA initiative to bring privately developed units to market affordably and quickly will be launched later this year, targeting schemes in excess of 150 units per development in the greater Dublin area, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. The first of those homes, cost rental and affordable purchase, should be delivered towards the end of this year.

I thank the Deputies for raising the important issue of vacancy. As they know, this issue is a priority for the Department and the Government. It is why one of the four main pillars of Housing for All is solely dedicated to this issue. At a time when supply of homes is a challenge, it is clear that every appropriate, available avenue must be exhausted. Addressing vacancy by making the best use of our existing stock is crucial in light of the current housing crisis. It is for those reasons that the Government has developed a multifaceted approach to addressing the issue.

We are ensuring that robust, up-to-date data is available to understand the quantity, locations and characteristics of long-term vacant dwellings and the reasons they are vacant. The most recent figures available from census 2016 indicate there were more than 183,000 vacant homes nationwide. While this is a 20% reduction on figures reported in census 2011 of more than 230,000, we are nonetheless still not at a sustainable level for a properly functioning housing market. The vacant property tax consideration being pursued by the Department of Finance includes the work under way through the current local property tax returns to assess present vacancy levels. This forthcoming new data evidence base will underpin and inform the implementation of a range of policy initiatives in this area as outlined in Housing for All.

An important area of innovation will be the new Croí Cónaithe towns fund initiative, which will be delivered by local authorities. This funding stream will provide serviced sites for housing in towns and villages as well as supporting the refurbishment of vacant properties enabling people to live in towns and villages. Other areas include utilising a new local authority-led programme to help local authorities buy or compulsorily purchase 2,500 vacant houses in their areas that can then be sold on the open market, which will ensure houses are brought back into use as homes.

The Derelict Sites Act 1990 confers significant powers upon local authorities, including requiring owners or occupiers to take appropriate measures on derelict sites, acquiring derelict sites by agreement or compulsorily, and applying a derelict sites levy on sites. My Department is continuing to engage with local authorities on the operation of the vacant site levy pending its replacement with the vacant property tax and, in particular, the derelict sites levy, to identify issues and challenges that have arisen in the operation of the two levies to date with the objective of improving their effectiveness. In the meantime, local authorities are encouraged to continue to determine the most appropriate use of the legislation within their respective functional areas and to ensure more productive and effective enforcement of the provisions of the legislation.

On the legislative front, the fair deal scheme has been reformed to remove disincentives for the sale of vacant properties. Further reforms are being progressed by the Department of Health to remove the disincentive to the rental of vacant properties by participants in the fair deal scheme, which will be brought forward shortly. In addition, the Planning and Development Act (Exempted Development) Regulations 2022 extends planning regulations that exempt certain vacant commercial properties, including over-the-shop spaces, from requiring planning permission for change of use for residential purposes to 2025, and includes vacant public houses within the scope of the regulations.

All of the initiatives under Housing for All addressing vacancy will not only support housing but supply, which will be profoundly positive from a social and sustainability perspective, utilising existing space, re-imaging and regenerating vacant properties and cutting down on the volume of commuters, leading to cleaner air and less congested urban areas that will ultimately provide commuters and communities with greater vibrancy. Addressing vacancy and the efficient use of existing stock makes sense on a number of levels and is of major importance to this Government. Most importantly, addressing vacancy will provide homes to families and, in some cases, stock is within our reach. It is imperative that we do so, even as we roll out record levels of new-build social and affordable homes over the coming years.

The reuse of vacant properties will be a key criteria in future funding rounds for the rural regeneration and development fund and urban regeneration and development funds. Utilising existing stock, and unlocking the potential for the reactivation of vacant and derelict home properties, will breathe new life into towns and villages, boosting schools, the local economy and local communities. Coming at a time when blended working has been accelerated and the availability of access to high-quality broadband and remote work spaces is growing daily, such incentives as the Croí Cónaithe towns fund are coming at precisely the right time to bolster this new approach to work-life in towns and villages. Addressing vacancy, therefore, remains a significant element of Government policy. When combined with the broader unprecedented level of Exchequer investment in housing in respect of €4 billion in multi-annual funding, this will have a significant impact on putting the country on a sustainable path.

The Government is acutely aware of the difficulties faced by people in sourcing affordable homes to rent and buy. These difficulties are not unique to Ireland and are experienced in many countries across the EU and further afield. We are taking significant measures that will deliver and make a very real difference to affordability and quality of life in the everyday lives of our people. The clearest demonstration of this commitment is the record State investment of €4 billion that has been allocated to the housing programme for 2022, which is a 20% increase on 2021.

In 2022, 11,800 social homes will be delivered, including 9,000 new-build homes. The focus of this funding, is, therefore, very much on the delivery of construction of new social homes. However, it is also important that the best use is made of existing vacant stock and Housing for All provides the clear pathway to addressing vacancy and efficient use of existing stock. We will realise this potential and opportunity to increase residential development in cities and towns with a consequent emphasis on amenities and quality of life.

Deputies have made valuable points in the debate. Through Housing for All, we are ensuring that vacancy is reprioritised. By the second quarter of this year, each of the 31 local authorities will have a full-time vacant homes officer to ensure that sufficient priority is given to it. The Law Reform Commission is examining the compulsory purchase process and will report on it.

I wish to make a point regarding the zoning of land. We must get into activation. We have a lot of zoned land already and a large number of vacant houses. It is activation that we need now. People should remember that in 2008 we had enough zoned land in the country to accommodate the growth of the population to 10 million. No one could predict where the infrastructure would go. We were left with a massive problem. Now we need to focus on the activation of existing zoned land. With the zoned land tax and the land value capture mechanism coming down the line, we are telling developers or people sitting on land that if they do not activate it there is a massive stick coming down the line. First, we have to work with the carrot through the Croí Cónaithe scheme and providing funds to unlock viability. We are working hard to try to ensure that people have sufficient housing stock ready and waiting for them.

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