Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: notes that:

— the most recent Central Statistics Office report stated that in the past year house prices have continued to skyrocket, rising by more than 7 per cent Statewide;

— across the State, first-time buyers now face an average price of €400,000 to buy a new-build home;

— the rate of home ownership has fallen to its lowest level in 50 years under this Government, as house prices and rents continue surging out of control;

— the number of new homes coming onto the market for people to buy and own fell last year and has flatlined under this Government;

— investment companies and vulture funds are hoovering up properties to rent out at extortionate prices which is making the situation worse; and

— the Tánaiste made a personal promise and a commitment to the electorate that if they got into Government he would deliver 50,000 affordable houses at prices that would be less than €250,000;

further notes:

— warnings from trade unions that the housing and affordability crisis is threatening our public services, with teachers, nurses and Gardaí unable to find affordable accommodation in cities, towns and villages across the State; and

— similar warnings from employer representative groups that the housing crisis is undermining our economy and that many employers are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain staff due to a lack of affordable housing;

condemns this Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government for delivering zero affordable homes to rent or buy in 2020 and 2021 and missing their inadequate affordable housing targets in 2022 and 2023;

agrees that people need a Government that will deliver homes that people can afford, and that will take on the vulture funds, the big landlords and the vested interests that are making the housing crisis worse; and

calls for:

— a radical reset of Government housing policy; and

— at least a doubling of output in the number of affordable homes to buy and rent.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil like to present themselves as the parties of homeownership. In his speech the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, near as made the same claim. The problem is that almost none of the facts support that contention. The Minister of State's own party has been in government for 12 years and has been propped up by Fianna Fáil for seven years. Homeownership is at its lowest level in 50 years. Home ownership as a percentage of housing stock, particularly for younger people, continues to fall, despite what the Minister of State has said. One of the reasons is that, despite the fact that in recent years there has been an increase in the overall number of homes delivered, the actual number of homes being built to go on the market for regular working people to buy has flatlined. Let me give the figures for the Minister of State because I suspect his officials have not done so. In 2019, there were 8,679 new build homes that went on the market for people to buy. Last year, which was a record year for new home building according to the Minister of State, there were actually fewer new homes that went on the market for people to buy. When affordable purchase homes are taken out, it was about 8,500. That figure was less than in 2022 when it was about 9,000. If the same number of homes are coming on the market to buy every year, then house prices are not going to fall. If, at the very same time, you are turbocharging that constrained market with an expanded so-called help to buy scheme with a highly controversial and high-risk shared equity scheme, then prices are going to rise. This is exactly what has happened under the Government's plan.

How anybody can think that presiding over the greatest level of house price inflation since the Celtic tiger is in some way compatible with a commitment to homeownership is just living in cloud-cuckoo-land. Those two things do not match. The Government loves to say 500 first-time buyers are drawing down their mortgages every week. That is true, but the vast majority of them are not buying new homes, even with the Government's inflationary help to buy and first home schemes. They cannot afford to buy the new homes that are being built. Why? Because average home prices are now in excess of €400,000. Where are people buying those homes? They are buying them further and further away from the places they work, from the places their children go to school, or from the places where they study and spend their leisure time. The Government is not only consigning an entire generation to unaffordable homes, those few who can actually buy their homes are living further and further away. What is the cost? Huge commutes, a huge impact on their financial well-being, especially with the cost of diesel and petrol rising, but also huge impacts for the environment and climate. This is not a sustainable or sensible housing policy.

If all of that was not bad enough, let us have a look at the Government's affordable housing schemes, because Ministers like to wax lyrical about affordable housing. In fact, Darragh O'Brien made a remarkable assertion earlier today. He said that 4,000 affordable housing solutions had been provided last year. I believe the Minister of State used a similar figure in a previous speech. It is kind of a funny thing; you cannot live in a solution. You can only live in a home. A very large number of those solutions were approvals for high-risk shared equity loans that were never drawn down. People did not actually buy the homes, not that, if they did, they would be affordable. How many affordable homes did the Government actually deliver last year? It was 1,368. The Government missed its target by 61%. The year before that the Government delivered 1,007 and missed its target by 52%. That is a shockingly low level of affordable housing output.

Even more remarkable is the price of these so-called affordable homes. Ballincollig is not the most affluent area in the country but it is a very nice place to live. What is the full price of an affordable home delivered under your scheme, Minister of State? I will tell you. According to Cork County Council, it is €395,000. That is an affordable home under the scheme. Come up now to Dublin to my constituency in the suburbs of Dublin Mid-West. In Clonburris the full price of an affordable home under the Government's scheme is €435,000. Just so Darragh O'Brien can prove he is not doing any particular favours for his own constituents, what does a Government affordable house cost in Lusk in the Minister's own constituency? Are you listening, Minister of State? It is €565,000. In what world is €565,000 affordable? Here is the sucker punch. If the price of the house goes up, the volume of equity owned at the end will also increase, so the purchaser might pay even more. If, after spending 30 years working hard to pay down the mortgage, they have not paid off the €100,000-plus equity, this amount will be passed on to the kids as a penalty they will inherit and will have to pay.

Best yet is affordable rental. In Citywest the Land Development Agency bought apartments from Cairn. What are the rents? This in this suburbs. This is not the docklands in Dublin or a super salubrious part of the city. It is just an average place where good working people live. The Land Development Agency's rents are €1,400 for a one-bedroom apartment, €1,600 for a two-bedroom apartment, and €1,800 for a three-bedroom apartment. They are actually more expensive than existing renters pay in those areas. The Government is not delivering private homes to buy and it is certainly not delivering affordable homes to rent or buy. This is why homeownership is falling at the rate it is.

My colleagues will outline some of the solutions to this. Last week we set out affordable leasehold purchase. We have set out over and over again our measures for real affordable rental and real social housing. If the Minister of State will not believe us, then he should listen to the Housing Commission. It has said the Government's plan is not working, it has said it is failing, and it has called for a radical reset. On the basis of the speech the Minister of State just gave at the end of the previous debate and, I presume, the mirror copy image he will give now, the Government has no idea how to get us out of this crisis because it created it. That is why we need a change of Government to tackle the affordable housing crisis the Minister of State and his colleagues in government have caused.

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