Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Léiríonn an taighde ón Choimisiúin Tithíochta go dtiteann spriocanna an Rialtais na mílte teach gann ón riachtanas tithíochta gach bliain. Tá teipthe ar a phlean. Caithfidh an Rialtas cúrsaí a athrú. Mura ndéanann sé sin, is é an rud atá i ndán do mhuintir na tíre seo ná géarchéim bhuan tithíochta atá ag dul in olcas. The Government's housing policy is pushing more families into homelessness, pushing up rents and house prices, forcing more and more of our young people to consider emigrating, damaging public confidence and undermining our economy. It is reported in today's edition of The Irish Timesthat unpublished research by the Housing Commission has found that the number of new build homes that will be needed is between 42,000 and 62,000 per year and yet this Government's failed housing plan only targets 33,000 homes per year - a plan destined to fail and a plan planning to fail. The targets in the Government's housing plan have been widely criticised not just by Sinn Féin but by industry and academic experts and now the plan has been fatally undermined by the very housing commission established by the Government.

The implications of this for struggling renters and those struggling to buy a home are very stark. The Government's housing plan is not failing on its own terms, but it is destined to fail. According to this research, even if the Government met its targets by 2030, there would be a shortfall of as many as 245,000 homes. That is alarming for everybody - those struggling for find affordable accommodation and those who will need affordable accommodation.

As far back as 2020, Sinn Féin argued that when pent-up demand for social and affordable housing is taken into account, the real housing demand was above 40,000 new homes per year but since then, we have had three years of Government under-supply despite continued population growth so it is obvious that the Government's housing targets need to be immediately revised significantly upwards. The current targets are not based on evidence or objective assessment of need. Instead they are the result of political manoeuvring - boasting that targets are met when the targets are clearly flawed. This must stop. Why must it stop? It is because it is too serious a matter.

Homelessness is reaching record levels with increases across every category, including children. Renters are facing extortionate rents with no capacity to save and little hope of ever owning their own home. According to the State of the Nation poll carried out by Virgin Media, more than half of renters now worry that they will not be able to pay their rent in the next 12 months. House prices have smashed Celtic tiger peaks with those struggling to get a foot on the property ladder now doubting if they will ever own their home. This is draining the hope and harming the life prospects of many of our people. A survey found that 92% of 18 to 24-year-olds now fear they will never be able to buy their own home. This is what our young people are thinking. No wonder that half of young Irish adults are considering emigration beaten down as they are by high living costs and the Government's housing crisis that is never ending.

The Government must change course and commit to revising these figures immediately. Otherwise it is condemning Irish people to a worsening and permanent housing crisis. Will the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage publish the findings of the Housing Commission's research that pointed out the fatal flaws in the Government's plan? Will the Government immediately revise its inadequate and deeply flawed housing targets? Will it give responsibility for verifying annually, reviewing and publishing data on housing need to a fully independent group that would include the ESRI and the Housing Agency?

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