Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Social Democrats I welcome this motion and I thank Deputy Ó Broin for bringing it forward. It complements the motion which the Social Democrats will be bringing forward in the morning on the vacant homes tax, where we are looking for such a tax with teeth. The derisory 0.3% rate of the tax which the Government has brought forward will not be an effective tax and will not unlock the potential of the more than 100,000 vacant homes we have across the country.

Even with the open goal of vacant homes, the lack of seriousness in the whole-of-government approach to that signifies we are not seeing the kind of response we should see. About a year ago, the Minister was unequivocal that 2022 would be the year of delivery. He was clear it would be the year he would meet his housing targets and his targets for social, affordable and cost-rental homes. It is deeply disappointing that the Government has now failed to meet those targets three years in a row. It is a kick in the teeth for people that it is happening at the same time as money is left unspent. In the region of €1 billion in capital funding from the housing budget could and should have been spent on building homes.

A total of 4,100 affordable and cost-rental homes were promised for 2022. That figure is far too low. The Minister at the last general election promised 10,000 affordable homes per year. Only 4,100 were promised last year, out of which we got 1,007 affordable purchase and cost-rental homes; of those, only 323 are actually affordable purchase. That is hugely disappointing given the promises made and given the huge need for affordable homes. Under this Government, we have reached record levels of homelessness, record rents, record house prices and record numbers of people in their 20s, 30s and even into their 40s still living in their childhood bedrooms. They are adults living in their childhood bedrooms who want to move on in life, have an independent life and return to visit their childhood homes and their parents.

Increasing numbers ask if there is only one option for them to become independent. I am talking about people in good, well-paid jobs who have done everything right and put themselves through education, often working hard to get through college in terms of part-time work. Years later, having done everything right, got qualifications and got a good job, they are still stuck in their childhood bedrooms. They ask if the only way out of this is to emigrate.

We are losing people with skills we desperately need across our society and economy, especially in areas like healthcare and education. We have all dealt in our constituency work with parents who cannot get the services they need for children with disabilities or additional needs because front-line staff trained here cannot be retained. We cannot fill posts because we are losing them, partially because there is not affordable housing.

On the €1 billion the Government has failed to spend, it is worth asking what could have been done with that in housing. Most affordable and social homes are built with an upfront subsidy of somewhere between €50,000 and €100,000. The rest of the funding for a social home will typically come through loan finance that is then paid off over time. Even if we base it on €100,000 being the full cost of that subsidy, which is the upper end for a social and affordable home, for that €1 billion we could have had 10,000 homes built which people could be living in now. That would have an incredible impact on people’s lives and get families who are under pressure and worried about evictions out of the private rented sector, get families out of homeless emergency accommodation and get huge numbers of people in their 20s and 30s out of their childhood bedrooms and into housing. If the Government had met its targets and used the funding it allocated to housing provision to do so, we could have a much better outcome for people right now.

Most people expected the Government to move heaven and earth to ensure that more affordable housing that people can move into is built and that we get thriving, cohesive, sustainable communities with that. Instead, we read this week that the Land Development Agency, LDA, turned down multiple sites offered by State agencies for affordable housing. In Limerick, 16 sites the LDA was offered for affordable housing were turned down. If the Government was meeting its affordable housing targets and spending its allocations, that may not be as serious. However, given it is so far off meeting those targets, how is it that the LDA is turning down so many sites for affordable housing?

There has been mention this evening of gaslighting. I think the Minister boasting about selling public land to private developers to build predominantly expensive private housing is a form of gaslighting. The Minister’s predecessors in Fianna Fáil from the 1950s, 60s and 70s would be aghast at this. While 1950s Ireland was a very dark place for a huge number of people, one thing we can say about the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s is that not only was public land not sold to private developers, but actually the State and local authorities were obtaining land through compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, at scale to build public housing.

In my constituency in areas like Artane, Edenmore, Kilbarrack and Coolock, a huge amount of land was compulsorily purchased by the local authority to build public housing, rather than being sold off to private developers. About 90% of those lands compulsorily purchased were used for affordable and social homes, with about 10% used for private housing. That was the kind of mix that was gone for and it was effective in delivering homes people could afford. I constantly meet people who moved into those homes and tell me the success they and their families were able to have by having somewhere secure to live where their family could thrive. I was talking to a lady last night who told me about the social home she got on one of the public lands compulsorily purchased from a private owner. They moved in 50-odd years ago and she told me with real pride about how well her now grown-up children have done and the contribution they are making to this country’s public services and private sector because they had such a good grounding with their housing and used that as a foundation for their education and for what they have contributed in life.

How could a Government miss targets and leave money unspent like that? Missing from this is a realisation of the huge importance of home. It is not just bricks and mortar. It is where relationships are built, newborn babies are brought home to and family celebrations are held; it is where people live, thrive and make friends in their communities for life; it is where they get stuck into their communities and GAA clubs, youth clubs, senior citizens groups and boards of schools; it is where people spend their final years. All of that foundation people have is being taken away from people who cannot move out of their parents’ home in their adult years or who are living in the private rented sector in constant fear of eviction and paying some of the highest rents in Europe with some of the lowest levels of security.

I implore the Government. We cannot afford to be back here next year with missed targets and unspent money again. We need to do everything we can to ensure the targets are met, homes are delivered and the money allocated for housing is spent in its entirety.

See this speech in context