Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to respond to the report of the joint committee on urban regeneration. I commend Deputy Matthews and his colleagues on the really important work the committee has done. I offer the Labour Party's support for its recommendations, which chime very much with calls made by our spokesperson on housing, Senator Moynihan. They are sensible recommendations. Everyone across the country acknowledges the need to regenerate urban centres by bringing derelict or vacant properties back into use including, and especially, for social and affordable housing. It is such a crucial point. The stark and dramatic figures on homelessness, with more than 10,000 people in emergency accommodation last week, nearly 3,000 of whom are children, illustrate the extent to which we need to ensure effective measures are put in place to bring vacant properties back into use. That is not the only way to tackle the homelessness and housing crises but it is a big part of it.

That is acknowledged in this important report. Indeed, it was acknowledged earlier this week by the Raise the Roof campaign relaunch. I was glad to attend that along with many other colleagues and to hear Peter McVerry say that supply is a considerable issue. It is the big issue to address the housing crisis but it is also about affordable supply. Looking at how we can bring vacant and derelict properties back into use is one way to tackle the supply issue. The recommendations on the vacant homes tax and on changing the derelict sites levy to a derelict sites tax are sensible and effective.

Alongside that, there are crucial recommendations on improving our data. As others have said, a considerable issue and obstacle to bringing derelict properties back into usage is the fact that we lack an online, publicly accessible and up-to-date register of properties at which we can look. In my own area of Dublin Bay South, a very high proportion of our households, 44%, are private rental accommodation. There is considerable housing need and significant issues about affordability of rents in this constituency and yet, I see vacant and derelict properties on every street down which I walk or cycle. They could be brought back into use through a combination of the carrot and big stick. We have all been talking about that and it is acknowledged in this report.

I will also refer to the role of local authorities. The report acknowledges that it is not just about bringing measures into place. It is also about ensuring effective enforcement. My Labour Party colleagues who work as city and county councillors regularly convey to me their frustration at the way at which they are stymied by bureaucratic obstacles that prevent quick conversion of vacant and derelict sites. Senator Moynihan made this point in committee.

While local authorities are often scapegoated, we need to ensure there is adequate resourcing in place. We have called for the establishment of dedicated teams in local authorities, tasked with identifying vacant and derelict sites and bringing them back to active use. We have submitted a number of questions to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and to local authorities, which tell us that many local authorities employ, at most, one full-time vacant sites officer. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, has just referred to funding being made available to ensure there is better staffing in local authorities. However, current staffing levels are clearly not adequate even to ensure enforcement of existing measures on vacant and derelict sites.

In response to a freedom of information request submitted by Senator Moynihan, it was revealed that even where local authorities have, through their existing staffing resources, identified vacant or derelict sites, they are facing enormous challenges in enforcing taxes and fines against owners and do not have enough guidance in respect of how to approach this problem. The co-ordinated approach advocated by this report is very much welcome.

We have also proposed that the Government would provide local authorities with emergency compulsory purchase order powers. That would be the ultimate big-stick approach. Again, however, local authorities would have to be sufficiently resourced to be able to exercise those powers effectively.

Those are the stick side of the measures. However, there is also the carrot side, which is the encouragement and support of property owners who have allowed sites to fall into dereliction, to bring them back into use. In Amsterdam, there is an interesting example of a policy whereby landowners are required to register property and, if the property has fallen into vacancy, they are encouraged to bring it back into use. Authorities work with users to help them make use of spaces and ensure there is sufficient support to do so. The owners go to the local authorities to look for meanwhile use of their site and there is incentive for landowners to reduce costs. It is seen as a cost to leave a site vacant. That is where we need to get to. Through a combination of incentives and taxes, we need to get to a point where it is too costly for an owner to leave a site, home, house or apartment empty or derelict and where local authorities and the Government are incentivising bringing sites back into use.

Urban regeneration is not just about social and affordable housing, although that has to be a key focus. That is acknowledged in the report. Urban regeneration policies are also about ensuring vibrant, active and positive communities for us all. This goes beyond simply bringing vacant properties back into usage. It means ensuring maintenance of face-to-face services and community centres. I will host a public meeting in Rathmines next week because we have seen the closure of the citizens information centre there. Even in busy urban centres, we are seeing a closure of face-to-face settings and community amenities such as post offices.

It is even more the case in rural areas. I was in County Westmeath on Monday, in a wonderful community hall in Rochfortbridge. I heard about real concerns about rural degeneration there with the closure of post offices, banks, Garda stations and many of the other settings and community facilities where people would have had the face-to-face contact that is essential for a vibrant public realm and space.

The report acknowledges that this goes beyond housing. This is about creating better and more sustainable public spaces. Very welcome is the acknowledgement of the need to combine planning and urban regeneration policies with active transport and travel policies to plan for public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure to facilitate the development of meaningful and sustainable communities. I commend Deputy Matthews and those involved in this report. I hope the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is listening to this and that we will see these important recommendations swiftly brought into effect.

See this speech in context