Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Representatives of Meath and Kildare county councils recently appeared before the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage to discuss how they are implementing Housing for All. They followed the four Dublin councils and Cork, Waterford and Limerick councils, with more councils to appear before us in the new year. All of these councils are telling us the story of public homes being built in increasing numbers.

Two and a half years ago, local authorities including my own in Dublin city only had two options. They either built large, concentrated, low-income communities with insufficient staff and funds or they sold to developers with no certainty on affordability or delivery. That was not good enough. In those two and a half years, we have legislated for and activated nearly every possible supply stream in order that local authorities have more staff and a €20 billion budget. Local authorities can build council housing, affordable rental and affordable purchase homes for the first time in a decade and partner with the LDA, which we capitalised and established, or an approved housing body. They finally have the power to build mixed-income communities. Councils now have all the tools and financial resources they need to build public housing on public land. That is how to deal with a housing emergency.

Those homes may not yet be built but the Government is doing everything it can to make sure they are built. There are 25 different publicly funded and owned sites in my constituency alone, from small infill sites right up to new communities. This is public housing on public land delivered by Government Deputies who voted for budgets and Bills to deliver and respond to a decade of undersupply. Councils now have the power to have an owner-occupied guarantee on private sites. We have a double-lobby obligation on developers on private sites. Where they are not viable, we will sell homes €100,000 below the cost of construction. We will do the same on council-owned sites and sell homes at €100,000 below the cost of construction. We will between €30,000 and €50,000 is provided to turn around derelict properties. All of this is being done within a more democratic planning system by abolishing strategic housing developments, SHDs, and restoring local authorities. We have introduced a vacant homes tax and a residential zoned land tax, capped rents and deposits and, when it was possible, we protected people from eviction. All of these are real changes and action.

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