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

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1:

To insert the following after "which Ireland is now facing": "; and

calls on the Government to introduce legislation to allow for the zoning of land for the particular use of providing affordable housing as defined in Parts 2 and 3 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021.".

We are in the middle of a housing disaster. We have record levels of rent, record house prices, record levels of adults living in their childhood bedrooms and record levels of homelessness. You would not know any of that from the Minister's contribution this evening. There was no acknowledgement of it. You would not know any of that from reading the Government amendment. That is a denial of the reality and lived experience of people’s lives right now. That denial really angers people. Can the Government not at least acknowledge the situation and how people are affected by it, rather than painting this rosy picture where everything is going well in housing and its plan is working? If there was a start made on acknowledging the seriousness of the problem, that would be the start of the kind of fixes and solutions we need on it.

On the Government’s track record on affordable housing, the Minister for housing in the previous general election promised 10,000 affordable homes every year. That is 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Government. That was the promise he made during the election campaign. In the first year of this Government in 2020, there were zero affordable purchase homes delivered. In 2021, zero affordable purchase homes were delivered. In 2022, just 323 affordable purchase homes were delivered and last year the figure was 499. Over the course of this Government there have not even been 1,000 affordable purchase homes delivered and the Minister is almost out of time, despite promising more than 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Government. That was the promise the electorate was given in the previous election.

At the same time as this massive underdelivery there has been an underspend in the housing capital budget by this Government. It comes to about €1 billion. It has either been returned in full to the Exchequer or carried over to next year, unspent in the headings it was meant to be and reallocated elsewhere. For example, in 2023, €70 million allocated by this Government to spend on affordable housing was reallocated elsewhere. Consider what that could have done to make a very real improvement in people’s lives. When we are talking about this, what should be at the forefront of our minds is the human impact this is having and the lack of stability for families. When you are talking to people who are unable to access housing or are very worried because they cannot get somewhere affordable and secure to live, they are thinking about how this is going to affect their children. They wonder whether their children are going to have to be moved out of their school. They may have a child with learning difficulties who they have fought every step of the way to get help and support for. It can take them years to get this. They can succeed in getting this with really hard work and good support from SNAs and teachers, but because they cannot get access to affordable, secure housing, they are afraid of how it is going to set back their child if they have to be moved from their school, make new friends and settle back in. This is, of course, having huge impacts on small businesses and our economy. It is having huge impacts on our healthcare service and the ability to retain much-needed healthcare staff, including nurses and carers. It is impacting on our older people who need support in their home if they are not able to get access to the healthcare and the support from carers they need because of the housing disaster this Government is presiding over.

One of the things that really strikes me when I go around the communities I represent is meeting people who tell stories of how the social or affordable purchase home they got maybe 50 years ago had a transformative effect on their lives. They tell me with real pride how they were able to get embedded in the community, get involved in the GAA club or community organisations and raise their children who were then able to thrive. They tell me what their adult children are doing and the contribution they are making because of the great impact being able to access affordable or social housing had for them. This is something we should never lose sight of, even though people are despairing. We must never lose sight of what was achieved here in the 20th century in terms of lifting people out of poverty, getting them into good quality housing in thriving communities and the impact that had once people were clear of the terrible housing conditions in the slums and tenements.

What are the solutions to this? One solution the Social Democrats put forward has been voted down by the Government on Committee Stage of the Planning and Development Bill, but it is not too late because that Bill has not concluded its passage through the Oireachtas. The Government could, therefore, accept our constructive solution on this in the form of affordable housing zoning, which is something that works well in other countries. It has been done in Vienna, for example. There an affordable rental two-bedroom apartment, built in the last couple of years, can be rented for €625 per month. We can compare that with an affordable rent here. Affordable housing zoning is part of the measures that permit that. We have put forward constructive solutions and I urge the Government to accept our solutions, accept the proposals we put forward for the Planning and Development Bill and accept the amendment I have moved this evening. Affordable housing zoning would help the situation. It is not the answer to everything.

The Minister has articulated the concerns he has with the Sinn Féin proposal on affordable housing with respect to the leasing of land and so on. If he does not like that, why not accept the Social Democrats’ proposal for affordable housing zoning? It would achieve many of the same things like ensuring there was more land available at affordable prices for affordable housing. It would also lock in affordability so a person could not just sell an affordable home, it goes onto the private market and in time ends up being unaffordable. Our proposal would determine affordability per square metre either as an affordable rent or for affordable purchase. This is what is done in other countries. It rises in time in line with the consumer price index because, of course, prices will need to rise, but they remain affordable. It would deal with the concerns the Minister has about what happens if someone builds an extension to their house. As this is per square metre, if a person builds an extension, the value of that house will go up in line with the extension. I urge the Minister to take on board the constructive solutions we are putting forward and not to vote them down like he did on the Planning and Development Bill.

We have, as I said, a good history with respect to what was done with housing in the 20th century. In Marino in my constituency, affordable purchase homes were built 100 years ago and it is a thriving community to this day. It is very successful. The open spaces were very well-designed. It is a great pleasure to meet people who live there and say their grandparents bought the home 100 years ago and the family has lived in it the whole way through as they have been able to keep it. However, if we look at the land costs for that housing in Marino, in the first phase the land cost for 231 houses was £4,794. The cost per house was thus £20 per house and the overall cost of construction was £589 per house. The land cost was therefore 4%. Looking at the land costs under this Government, we are talking about 20% and it can be more.

In effect, the land cost is even more than that 20% because there are also the financing costs, the developer margin and so forth. Affordable housing zoning would get these land costs down and I urge the Government to accept our proposals in that regard. These are concrete measures that have been proven to work in other countries. Why would the Government not accept these proposals? If the Minister is genuinely committed to affordable housing and genuinely wants to see his targets met, something this Government has never done, why would he not adopt the constructive proposals we are putting forward that have been proven to work in other countries? Why would he oppose them? I do not understand that. I hope he will accept our amendment to the motion and our amendments on Report Stage of the Planning and Development Bill 2023. I hope he will take on board these proposals, which would make housing in Ireland more affordable.

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