Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For the past year the Government has been telling everyone it has turned the corner on housing. Even as so many people across our society struggle to find an affordable home, it dresses up failure as progress. Today, however, we know the truth. The Housing Commission, established by the Government, has called the Government out today. Its leaked report, which would not have seen the light of day had RTÉ not broken the story, is a damning indictment of the Government’s housing policy. It talks about systemic failure, ineffective decision-making, reactive policymaking, and failure to deliver value for money, with one of the highest public expenditures for housing in Europe yet one of the poorest outcomes. This should be no surprise when the Government pays billions of euro to lease homes that go back to the wealthy property fund after 25 years.

The Housing Commission is telling the Taoiseach directly that his housing plan is not working. It states that only a radical strategic reset in housing policy will fix the problem. What does that mean? It means we must see a turn away from the disastrous housing policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and an urgent ramping up in the delivery of affordable homes to buy and rent.

The Government cannot even get its targets right. It failed to take account of more than a decade of unmet housing demand. Now we have a deficit which means families with kids live in the box rooms of their parents' homes. It means people living in the family home well into their 30s.

To respond to these challenges, the Commission calls for social and affordable housing delivery to increase to 20% of total housing stock. That is half of all new homes that need to be affordable and social.

The report makes it clear that Government failure is undermining affordability in the housing system. Those are its words. Housing affordability has been shredded. On the watch of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, homeownership has collapsed for a generation. First-time buyers now face an average price of €400,000 to buy a new home. That is simply not affordable for the majority of people.

It is no better for those looking to rent. Yesterday's Daft.ie report shows that rip-off rents continue to soar. New rents are now averaging €1,836 per month. In Dublin it is a staggering €2,353 per month. Tá sé soiléir ó thuarascáil an Choimisiúin Tithíochta gur theip ar phlean tithíochta an Rialtais. Ní mór anois ach athshocrú ollmhór i bpolasaí tithíochta.

Fine Gael has been in government for 13 years, joined at the hip by Fianna Fáil for the past eight. Today their Housing Commission tells them that their housing policies have failed. It also makes it clear that there are solutions, that housing can be fixed, but only with a radical, strategic reset in policy. That means delivering housing that people can actually afford. It means taking on the vulture funds, the big landlords and the vested interests that are making the housing crisis worse. It means delivering the biggest affordable and social housing programme in the history of the State so that young teachers, nurses, gardaí and retail workers can afford a home. This is the urgent change we need in housing. Does the Taoiseach accept the view of the Housing Commission that the Government's housing plan is not working?

Does he accept that only a radical strategic reset of housing policy has any prospect of working?

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