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

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

— Ireland's housing crisis continues to have a devastating impact on people's lives and life choices;

— bringing vacant homes back into use is one of the quickest and most sustainable ways to increase the supply of housing;

— high levels of vacancy in homes around Ireland have been identified by the GeoDirectory, the Central Statistics Office (based on metered electricity consumption), and the most recent Census;

— the rate of annual house price inflation for 2022 was 7.8 per cent;

— rents around the country are at all-time high levels, and levels of available rental supply have collapsed;

— across the country it was more expensive to buy a house in 2022 than it was in 2007, the previous house price peak;

— the Government targets for social and affordable housing are too low, and have been missed three years in a row; and

— in February 2023 11,742 people, including 3,373 children, accessed emergency accommodation;

further notes that:

— while the Minister for Finance announced the introduction of a Vacant Homes Tax in his Budget 2023 statement on 27th September, 2022, this tax will be charged at a derisory rate of 0.3087 per cent of the value of the property;

— such a low tax rate will have minimal effect on behaviour at a time when annual house price inflation is running at several times the rate of this tax, thereby allowing speculators with vacant properties to continue to profit significantly;

— the effect of the Vacant Homes Tax in 2022 on a vacant house valued at €305,000 (the prevailing median house price in Ireland) would have been to allow the owner to profit by around €22,500;

— despite the stated goal of this tax being to increase the supply of homes, it will fail to unlock the high number of vacant homes across the country; and

— this situation amounts to this Government continuing to reward speculators who leave habitable homes vacant during a housing crisis and is no more than a pretence at meaningful action; and

calls on the Government to:

— implement a serious Vacant Homes Tax with teeth;

— change the rate of the Vacant Homes Tax from 0.3087 per cent to a rate of 10 per cent;

— enforce the tax in a way that will unlock the potential of vacant homes in Ireland and encourage property owners with a vacant property to rent it, use it, or sell it; and

— substantially increase the penalties for failing to comply with the Vacant Homes Tax.

We need a vacant homes tax. It will unlock the potential of vacant homes. We need to get serious about the issue of vacancy around the country. We need a tax with teeth, not the derisory tax of 0.3% the Government is introducing, which is designed to fail and which is nothing more, in our view, than an attempt by the Government to make it look like it is doing something on vacancy by virtue signalling. It will not be effective in getting more than 100,000 vacant homes back into use. We need a tax that will ensure that vacant homes are used by the owners, rented or sold.

With the lifting of the ban on no-fault evictions, with hundreds of thousands of people in their 20s, 30s and even into their 40s still living in their childhood bedrooms, and with almost 12,000 people, including more than 3,000 children, living in emergency homelessness accommodation, we need to do everything we can to increase the supply of housing, especially housing that is affordable for people. As part of that, we need to build at least 20,000 affordable, social and cost-rental homes per year. Incredibly, this Government, since taking office, has left unspent about €1 billion in the housing capital budget that should and could have been spent building homes. We also need to take immediate measures to tackle vacancy in order to get existing homes back into use.

The Government is not taking this seriously. There are at least 100,000 vacant homes around the country. That figure does not include holiday homes. GeoDirectory, combining data compiled by An Post delivery staff and Ordnance Survey Ireland, states that there are 83,662 vacant homes and a further 21,481 derelict homes nationwide. That is a huge potential in our housing stock that needs to be unlocked, given the housing disaster we are in. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, incidentally, puts that figure higher, at more than 160,000 vacant homes, excluding holiday homes, across the country.

After years of people campaigning on this issue and calling for the Government to take action, and the Government dithering on it, it has finally agreed to a derisory vacant homes tax of 0.3%, but that will have little or no impact on the number of vacant and unused homes around the country. It is a measure designed to make it look like the Government is doing something.

The Social Democrats propose a tax of 10% on vacant homes to get them back into use. We cannot afford to waste any more time not unlocking the potential of these homes.

I will address the countermotion tabled by the Government. It states:

... levels of vacancy captured in Local Property Tax returns are low across all counties and lie within the range that is considered to be in line with a functioning housing market ...

This raises several questions. First, do the Government and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, think we have a functioning housing market? Is that their position? Do they think having in excess of 100,000 vacant homes at a time of a housing disaster is somehow normal or okay? Is this an admission by the Government that it thinks the rate of 0.3% that it has set is likely not to be effective? It says in its countermotion that there is not really an issue with vacancy, so is it defending the rate of 0.3% on the basis that it does not think it will be effective? Why does the Government in its countermotion make no reference at all to census data? How is that credible? This is the Government of Ireland. It uses census data to plan everything else it does, but when it comes to vacant homes, all of a sudden it does not recognise or refer to census data. How is that credible? Can the Minister explain to us why the Government has not referenced the census data on vacancy in its countermotion? Why is it being inconsistent with regard to the CSO when it comes to vacant homes, and why vacant homes alone?

There are examples of vacancy all around the country for anyone who will open their eyes to see them. In the Minister's constituency and home of Cork city there are 700 derelict buildings alone - not even vacant buildings - within a 2 km radius of the city centre. This has been very well documented by Frank O'Connor and Jude Sherry from Cork city, who have done tremendous work in the past few years. I pay tribute to them for that work. Does the Minister not see these vacant homes and derelict buildings in his own constituency and city? If he does not walk around Cork city to see them, will he at least go on social media and see how they have been documented by Frank O'Connor and Jude Sherry? Has he done that? Does he not think anything serious should be done about this? Does he need to go on a walking tour of his own city with Frank O'Connor and Jude Sherry to see the problems of dereliction and vacancy? They could be part of the solution to the housing crisis if the Government were serious about having a vacant homes tax with teeth.

This is an issue not just in Cork city but all across the country. You can walk out of here and down to our national street, O'Connell Street, and you will see, for example, a site that has been left derelict for the past 43 years. Vacancy is spread across the country. Most vacant homes are in urban areas. Some 64% of vacant homes recorded in the 2016 census are in towns, villages and cities. These areas have existing services, infrastructure and schools.

In addition, ground-floor vacancy has been documented by the Heritage Council. It has shown some very high rates of ground-floor vacancy in our towns - as high as 28% in some towns around the country.

Key to having a strong and effective tax that works is also having exemptions that are fair in order that people who own vacant homes for reasons beyond their control are not unfairly taxed. Exemptions should include homes going through probate, for example, and homes that are empty because the owner has a long-term illness or is receiving hospital or other care.

Bringing more than 100,000 empty homes back into use could have a transformative effect on supply and would take huge pressure off people currently renting and worried about eviction and would take pressure off people looking for somewhere affordable to live.

Putting existing buildings back into use is also good for helping us to meet our climate change targets. The most sustainable building is an existing building. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, construction and demolition created 8.2 million tonnes of waste in Ireland in 2020. At the same time, carbon emissions from the construction process accounted for 11% of our nation's annual carbon emissions, according to the Irish Green Building Council. One of the best things we can do in terms of sustainability, therefore, is to use and reuse existing housing stock as well as building the new social and affordable homes we desperately need.

Vacant and derelict buildings are a blight on communities. That is another reason the Government should take this seriously, with a tax with teeth to get life back into our cities, towns and urban centres.

We are not fixated on the rate having to be set at 10%. We want the Government to set it at a serious rate. If it sets a rate that will be effective, we will work with it and support it. It does not have to be at 10%, but if the Government takes a serious measure and sets it way above a derisory 0.3%, we will certainly work with it and support it in doing so.

Does the Government not understand the absolute seriousness of the housing crisis and how it is affecting people throughout this country? I have to ask that question. Can it not see the potential of unlocking more than 100,000 vacant homes across the country? If it understood the stress and trauma being faced by families throughout the country, it would move heaven and earth to do everything it could to make more homes and housing available. Key to that is getting our existing stock back into use. This is an open goal for the Government. There is no excuse not to take it.

The Minister for Finance is charged with making the best use of existing resources. That includes making best use of our existing housing stock. I implore him to introduce a tax with teeth on this.

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