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

I thank everyone who has contributed to the debate while I was here. As already indicated by my colleague Deputy Darragh O’Brien, the Minister, much is being done by the Government to address housing supply and homelessness. I assure the Deputies in the House of the work done to date. The Government is committed, through Housing for All, to over 200 actions designed to tackle housing issues. Increasing the supply of housing is at the centre of Housing for All. This includes major direct investment in social and affordable housing, reforms to ensure the availability of land, measures to support the viability of development and ensuring sufficient investment and capacity to support housing construction.

Housing for All is backed by a €20 billion State investment in housing to the end of 2026. It gives certainty and stability to those who want to finance and build homes. Addressing homelessness continues to be an absolute priority of the Government and my Department in particular. Resources and funding are not obstacles to the urgent efforts required. There is a €194 million allocation for homelessness services alone in 2022. This funding ensures that local authorities can continue to provide emergency accommodation and other essential support services to households experiencing homelessness, while also ensuring that pathways out of homelessness for those households in emergency accommodation are secured as quickly as possible.

The Government is also committed to the reduction and prevention of homelessness and last year signed the Lisbon Declaration on the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness. Many of the actions in Housing for All directly address this, including the expansion of Housing First, the development of a youth homelessness strategy and the establishment of the national homelessness action committee. To secure more tenancies and prevent new entries into homelessness, thus relieving pressure on emergency accommodation, we have increased the HAP discretion rate to 35% and allowed local authorities to apply a couple rate to single-person households where required. The proposed measures to strengthen the regulation of the short-term lettings sector, which have been approved by the Cabinet this week, will lead to a return of much-needed properties to the long-term rental market, further preventing entry to and increasing exits from homelessness.

The first home shared equity scheme is open for applications to support 8,000 affordable purchases by 2025, primarily for first-time buyers. The first home scheme will help applicants exit the rental market and achieve the stability and security of affordable new homes through the use of an equity share model within the designated regional price ceilings to target starter homes. The Croí Conaithe city scheme will bring apartments forward for development, delivering much needed additional supply in cities. We believe that demand for owner occupation of apartments in these city locations is strong but cannot be met because of the viability gap. We have been pragmatic in recognising the barrier to apartment construction that the viability gap presents and have worked to bridge it and kick-start the construction of much-needed apartment schemes. These will provide much-needed homes as well as facilitate compact growth and create vibrant livable communities in our largest cities. Meanwhile the Croí Cónaithe town scheme will support regeneration in our towns and villages, with further details on the scheme to be announced later this week.

It has been more than a decade since State-led affordable homes have been built. Building new social, affordable and market supplied housing is key. Adding to the supply of housing is at the very heart of our Housing for All strategy. We are pressing ahead with delivering new affordable housing to meet the clearly identified need. A total of 234 cost-rental homes had been tenanted as of the end of June. A total of 65 were delivered in 2021 and a further 169 have been tenanted so far this year. The development of the cost-rental sector from a concept to an on-the-ground reality is a huge step forward. We intend to scale up this tenure type to ensure we provide tenants with secure affordable options.

The LDA is working to deliver on its social and affordable housing mandate. The contractor has been appointed for the development of 597 new cost-rental affordable purchase and social homes at Shanganagh, County Dublin, with work on site to commence in September. Work will also start at St. Kevin's site in Cork this year. Planning permission has also been applied for in respect of four other sites which are expected to yield close to 2,300 units.

Vacancy is being addressed through a number of measures, including the rural regeneration and development fund, the introduction of a vacant property tax, the reforming of the fair deal scheme and expansion of the voids programme. Tenants are being supported through the extension of notice of termination periods, the introduction of tenancies of unlimited duration, the requirement for landlords to inform the Residential Tenancies Board when serving a notice of termination and the capping of rent increases at a maximum of 2% in rent pressure zones. Actions on housing for older people, those with a disability and Traveller accommodation, including sectoral specific plans such as the national housing strategy for disabled people 2022 to 2027, are being progressed by means of pathway 2 of Housing for All.

Indicators show the Government's 2022 housing targets will be met, with more than 22,000 new homes completed in the 12 months to the end of March, increases in commencement notices month on month and residential planning permission applications increasing by more than 22% over a 12-month period. The fourth progress report for Housing for All will be published this week and reflects the significant progress that has been made towards overall reform of the housing system and delivery of measures to accelerate the supply of homes in the short to medium term.

As Deputies and campaigners know, homelessness is a very complex issue in which casual factors and family circumstances vary considerably, as do the type of responses that are needed. Homelessness is interrelated with other areas in the housing system and with broader social and healthcare policies and service delivery. A whole-of-government approach is required when dealing with this huge challenge. Housing for All is this approach, and we will continue to work to house everyone. For those who have left homelessness, we must work to ensure that, where needed, families and individuals are supported to sustain their tenancies. This is important work that needs to continue. We must also ensure that families and individuals remain in their homes and do not re-enter homelessness. All of these supports are essential to tackle homelessness. If we work together in co-operation and collaboration we can reverse the trend of rising homelessness. I thank all of the organisations involved in helping those at risk of homelessness. We will all work together to continue to drive our actions in Housing for All, which will be critical to the success of the strategy.

The issue of infrastructure has been raised in the debate. Irish Water is doing significant work. A critical point on infrastructure is that it takes significant capital funds to unlock it. We know that Irish Water competes for funding with various Departments, including those responsible for transport, health and education. As I travel throughout the country I see the demand is great. There are sites that were environmental flash points where wastewater was getting into our water courses. These had to be worked on urgently. There are also remediation schemes throughout the 31 local authority areas. Unfortunately, at the height of the Celtic tiger era, developments failed and remediation schemes had to be established. There is significant demand in rural towns and villages throughout the country for the infrastructure to unlock the development of homes and increase the capacity. We are working hard to do this but it will take time because the call to do so is significant.

People have to be realistic about the funding streams and the revenue raised to deliver these actions and the competing interests. I acknowledge that Deputies have mentioned dealing with the public in their clinics. I acknowledge it is very challenging. It is very difficult. I meet constituents at clinics on a weekly basis and I try to assist them with housing options. As I have said in the House in recent months, there is significant hope given the increase in commencement notices, which are above 30,000. This is strong evidence of builders on site delivering homes. I can see it in my community as I look around. There are four or five significant large-scale sites. They will assist in providing secure tenancies for all our citizens. This is what collectively all of us in the House are trying to achieve.

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