Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that: — through the implementation of the Housing for All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland (September 2021) and the Housing for All Action Plan Update (November 2022), the Government is actively supporting and promoting home ownership and affordable housing to reverse the change in historical patterns of home ownership evident in the past decade;

— the long-term solution to the decline in home ownership remains an increased and sustainable supply of new homes, through the State-led expanded social and affordable housing programmes, whilst removing barriers to the private sector delivering at scale, increasing new housing supply, with a combination of public and private sector development, is critical to a successful implementation of Housing for All;

— supply is increasing, in 2022 almost 30,000 homes were built, an increase of 45.2 per cent from 2021, and 5,250 homes or 21 per cent higher than the Housing for All target of 24,600, and in the first quarter of 2023, a further 6,716 new homes were added to the national housing stock, an increase of 19 per cent on the same period in 2022, and the highest number of quarter one completions recorded since the series began in 2011;

— there has also been a strong uptick in commencements in the fourth quarter of 2022, which has continued into 2023 with commencement notices from January to April amounting to 9,928, this is the highest level of commencements for this period since records began in 2014, and some 6 per cent higher than the same period in 2022 (9,343);

— there were 2,801 first-time buyer mortgage approvals in March 2023, a 49.2 per cent increase on the 1,877 mortgage approvals in February 2023;

— the Government launched the Help to Buy Scheme in 2017 and has already supported over 38,000 first-time buyer households to secure a new home, with over 900 of these supports delivered in January and February this year, and this scheme has been extended to 2024;

— 10,263 social homes were delivered in 2022 (11.9 per cent increase on 2021 figures when 9,169 social homes were provided), and this represents the highest annual output of social homes in decades and the highest level of delivery of new-build housing since 1975;

— from a standing start, 1,757 affordable homes were delivered through Cost Rental, the First Home Scheme and the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme in 2022, the first full year of affordable housing delivery in a generation and which included a range of delivery partners from local authorities, Affordable Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency (LDA);

— affordable housing supply at scale will be achieved through a mix of new or extended initiatives, including the First Home scheme, local authority-provided affordable purchase schemes, the Help to Buy initiative and the expanded Local Authority Home Loan, and taken together, the suite of affordable measures will make homeownership achievable for tens of thousands of individuals and families;

— a strong pipeline of social and affordable housing is now in place, with over 19,000 new-build social homes in the pipeline and over 2,500 more local authority affordable homes already approved for funding, along with further affordable housing being planned by the LDA and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs);

— an 'Owner Occupier Guarantee' was introduced, enabling local authorities to designate a specified number of units in a development for first-time buyers and owner occupiers, and in May 2021, changes were made to the rate of stamp duty payable to penalise inappropriate investment in homes and duplexes, furthermore, Ministerial planning guidelines were issued to ensure that new 'own-door' houses and duplex units in housing developments are not bulk-purchased by commercial institutional investors in a way that would cause the displacement of individual purchasers and/or social and affordable housing including cost-rental housing, and as of December 2022, it is estimated that approximately 23,000 residential units have been ring-fenced for individual buyers and restricted from bulk buying or multiple sales to a single purchaser subsequent to the introduction of these measures;

— a record €4.5 billion in State housing investment in 2023 will ensure that the substantial uplift in supply in 2022 can be maintained and exceeded, with 9,100 direct build social homes and 5,500 affordable homes to be delivered; and

— regarding measures to accelerate supply, the Government is acting decisively to expand the options for those currently facing affordability constraints in buying or renting a home, reducing construction costs and tackling viability issues are both critical to increasing supply;

further notes that Government is reducing the cost of construction by inter alia:

— the introduction of temporary time-limited arrangements for the waiving of development contributions and the refunding of Uisce Éireann water and waste water connection charges, saving the value of €12,650 per home on average; and

— a study to analyse each component of the cost of construction of house and apartment development was undertaken, and a set of follow up actions for cost reduction and increased standardisation have been agreed and are now being implemented;

furthermore notes that Government is tackling the viability gap by inter alia:

— supporting the construction of affordable apartments for Cost Rental to get work started on thousands of affordable apartments to rent which have planning permission but which are not being progressed, and €750 million has been committed to complete 4,000 to 6,000 additional affordable apartments;

— introducing and implementing the Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme which will support the building of up to 5,000 apartments for sale to owner-occupiers;

— updating planning density guidelines to expand on the density ranges contained in the 2009 (current) guidelines, reflecting the variety of settlements and settlement contexts where residential development takes place, and to provide greater flexibility in design standards such as building separation distances and open space standards, to support the construction of more compact 'own-door' housing, alongside traditional housing and apartment developments;

— expanding Project Tosaigh aimed at accelerating delivery of homes on sites with full planning permission which would not otherwise be developed; and

— increasing the Cost Rental Equity Loan from a maximum of 30 per cent to up to 45 per cent per project and increasing the Affordable Housing Fund grant from a maximum of €100,000 per unit to up to €150,000 per unit to support Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and local authorities to deliver Cost Rental homes; and

acknowledges, regarding the investment required, the private rental market and Build-to-Rent (BTR) developments:

— some €13.5 billion in development funding will be needed annually, with a significant proportion needed from private sources, to achieve the average Housing for All target output of 33,000 dwellings per year, and securing such private, long-term capital is critical to providing the scale of housing needed over the next decade;

— institutional investment in residential real estate by reputable investors, such as pension funds, is a normal feature of real estate investment in many of our European neighbours and elsewhere; without it, much needed housing would not be delivered, the significant uplift in delivery achieved in 2022 would not be realised, and tenants and potential home buyers would be under even greater pressure;

— given the important role investment has played particularly in the development of new high-density urban housing in recent years, it is important that this investment is maintained, and the Department of Finance recently commissioned a report on the drivers of cost and availability of finance for residential development, the findings and recommendations from this report are currently being assessed and actions arising will be implemented as appropriate;

— to note, the distinct planning status of BTR developments was removed from Sustainable Urban Housing - Design Standards for New Apartments Guidelines for Planning Authorities 2022, and the removal of Specific Planning Policy Requirements (SPPRs) 7 and 8 means that BTR is no longer afforded separate classification in the planning system, while all planning applications for apartment developments must now adhere to the same standards, subject to certain transitional arrangements;

— to tackle accommodation shortages, the Government is strengthening regulatory controls on short-term lets with approval given for the priority drafting of the Registration of Short-Term Tourist Letting Bill and publication of the General Scheme of the Bill, and this legislation will deliver on the Housing for All objective to make more efficient use of existing housing stock with the establishment of the Fáilte Ireland registration system; and

— the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has commenced a comprehensive review of the private rental sector to take account of the significant regulatory changes over the past several years and will report on how our housing system can be enhanced to provide an efficient, affordable, safe and secure framework for landlords and tenants, and the review includes a public consultation process, including targeted engagement with various stakeholders, and this consultation, which will commence shortly and will continue for four weeks, will be essential in properly planning future policy for the residential rented sector including implementing measures to support both landlords and tenants and will conclude as early as possible."

While I appreciate the good intentions behind this motion, much of its contents are already priorities for the Government and everyone else on this side of the House. I will touch on a few themes that have arisen. We acknowledge the need to increase homeownership. The statistics that were mentioned have been available. There was a report done about a year ago with a similar focus. The building of houses came to a cliff edge around 2008 and 2009, so there was a generation for whom houses were not available to purchase. We are very much trying to remedy that now, and that is a fact. The long-term solution is to increase supply.

I will touch on a few items in Housing for All. The facts are we built 30,000 in the last year, which is the highest number since 2008. Funding is not an issue as we have put up €4.5 billion. We had 10,000 commencements in the first four months of the year, which is the highest on record since 2014 and 6% higher than the previous period last year. With respect to the homeownership aspect of Housing for All, the help-to-buy scheme has helped nearly 40,000 people at this point. It is a scheme the Social Democrats opposed. The party's manifesto said it would effectively remove it. It is a deposit for people. Rents are too high, but the help-to-buy scheme gives first-time purchasers an opportunity to come up with a much-needed deposit of 10% and that should not be overlooked. The first home scheme introduced by this Government allows people to purchase a house with up to a 20% discount. Applicants still qualify for the help-to-buy scheme and that is helping people to purchase their first home. Again, it is a scheme for homeownership opposed by the Social Democrats. We have also expanded the local authority home loan scheme. We are putting measures in place to assist people to purchase their own home.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan made reference to people in the rental market aspiring to owning their own home. We believe anybody who is out there working should have the opportunity to purchase a home. We have put schemes in place for that. Deputy Catherine Murphy made reference to cities and towns. We have the Croí Cónaithe scheme, which she did not make reference to. That scheme is available for anyone, including first-time purchasers. They effectively get €50,000 towards the renovation of a house built before 2007 and they get €70,000 if the house is deemed derelict. That is a scheme we want to target at first-time purchasers. Obviously, it has extended the rental market. As of now, over 2,000 people have applied under the scheme and we expect it to be oversubscribed. The transactions show first-time buyers purchased almost 17,000 homes in the 12 months to March. There are 400 homes being purchased by first-time buyers per week. On mortgage drawdowns, figures for quarter 1 show demand remains strong with over 8,100 drawdowns. That is 6.5% higher than in quarter 1 of 2022. It is the highest in any first quarter since 2008. First-time buyer activity remains strong with 5,500 such mortgages drawn down in quarter 1 of this year, which is 6.8% higher than last year. Revenue reports 13,675 help-to-buy applications in the first quarter of this year. We have, therefore, put in place measures to encourage people to be able to purchase their first home. The schemes are very identifiable. The help-to-buy scheme is a system with a deposit. In many cases, banks will accept it as the deposit. With the first home scheme, people get a discount on the purchase of a home in any private estate. There is the local authority home loan scheme and Croí Cónaithe. All these schemes are directed at homeownership. It is something we as a Government feel very strongly about. Side-by-side with that, we must ensure our social housing programme continues. We have delivered over 10,000 social homes in the last year. Of those, 7,500 were new builds by local authorities and the rest were of different forms. As I have said, it is about providing a home for people.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan made reference to cost rental. Society is changing. Some people out there want to go into the rental space. That is why we have brought forward an affordable cost rental scheme where rents will be 25% below the current market rate. Within those schemes are rentals with security of tenure of up to 40 years. Thus, that model of long-term rental is very much to the fore. On the other area, we would like the terminations to be lower, but the model has changed within the RTB. Up to, I think, 6 July last year it had to be 28 days after an eviction took place. Now it is based on the date the eviction notice is served to a tenant. We want to keep people in their homes, and that is why we brought in an expanded tenant in situscheme. To date, we have 1,000 applications being processed and another 900 being considered for a total of 1,900. The Government will expand that scheme. It is one that will be demand-led. We want to keep people in their homes. Not every eviction notice results in people being made homeless, but I take the point that one person being made homeless is too many. We appreciate that.

We recognise the seriousness of the situation with the rental market. Deputies are probably aware that there is a comprehensive review under way in the Department to look at the whole area and explore how to get more people to stay in the rental market and what further improvements we can make. I think that report will be published in July. Affordability remains top of our priority list. I have mentioned our flagship programme, namely, the first home scheme. We are looking at 8,000 people being qualified for that. In this quarter alone we have seen 1,326 approvals in that area. That is a scheme for the starter home. Someone who is starting out and wants to buy their first home can avail of a scheme where they get a 20% discount and 10% as a deposit from the help-to-buy scheme. There are set price levels in different areas of the country. It is a starter home scheme that makes it affordable for people to purchase their first home. We have committed €400 million to that programme.

I already referred to the help-to-buy scheme and some 40,000 people have gained under that scheme to date. The main focus of the Housing for All policy remains on increasing supply. Some 30,000 units were built last year and we are seeking to exceed that figure this year. There were 10,323 social homes built last year, and we are looking to match or exceed that figure this year. This policy is also concerned with affordability. It is about ensuring that anyone aspiring to own a home can do so. This is why we have the help-to-buy and first home schemes. I also encourage first-time buyers to consider the Croí Cónaithe scheme. What we really want to do in this context is to provide housing at a level which will make it possible for people to purchase their own homes. Enabling homeownership for people remains front and centre in our ambition for the Housing for All policy. This is alongside our social housing and cost-rental programmes. It is, ultimately, an integrated model. It is not an either-or approach but about catering for all categories of housing, including homeownership.

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