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

Never before has the opportunity or the need for action from Government to address the housing crisis been so great and never before has the opportunity for Government to address the housing crisis been so great. The Housing Commission in its report published in May stated very clearly that we need 60,000 new homes a year to be delivered. Currently only about half of that is being delivered. This budget presented the Government with a great and golden opportunity to take radical and decisive action to ensure we get enough housing, and particularly affordable housing, that is desperately needed in this country. There is a generation watching on today who are stuck at home in their childhood bedrooms. This generation is absolutely horrified at a Government that has failed to grasp this moment and this opportunity. This budget is a real kick in the teeth for renters who are paying exorbitant rents, for every adult stuck in his or her childhood bedroom, and for every person who is currently experiencing homelessness or who is in fear of becoming homeless.

The context of this budget for housing and for renters is that when Fine Gael took office initially someone looking to rent a place faced paying an average rent of €757. Now the average rent has risen to a whopping €1,612. Since this Government has taken office house prices have increased by more than €80,000. Home ownership is at its lowest level in more than 50 years. Back in 1991 Ireland had one of the highest home ownership rates in Europe at about 80%. In just 30 years that has fallen to 66% and is continuing to fall. At the same time the Government continues to subsidise and encourage expensive rental-only developments that are owned by international funds where there is no option at all for people to buy. This is a direct result of what the Government is doing, and indeed what it is failing to do.

There are now 14,486 people who are homeless and living in emergency accommodation. When Fine Gael took office this number was still too high but it was 3,808. This is a 280% increase since Fine Gael has taken office. Rough sleeping in Dublin in the last year, not including the numbers of international protection applicants, has increased by 56% under this Government. Child homelessness has reached record levels and yet the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, told us earlier that this Government wants Ireland to be one the best countries in the world to be a child. If the Government is serious about that it could start by tackling child homelessness and eliminating child homelessness but we do not see measures in the budget to do this.

When we talk of all these numbers it is important to remember there are humans behind these numbers. Last week I attended an event organised by the Simon Community. I met two people who had previously been homeless, had come out of that, and are now in housing. They talked of the trauma they experienced in homeless emergency accommodation and how they will never recover from that. They spoke of how every week they count themselves lucky to be alive and how utterly traumatised and scarred they were by the experience of having no personal space, of not having proper support and care, and of feeling constantly under threat. These are just two of the people behind the staggering numbers this Government is responsible for. All of this is happening in the context of a budget surplus of €25 billion that could be used to end homelessness and to build the tens of thousands of affordable social homes that we desperately need to fix this housing crisis. There are more than enough resources available to fully fund the Social Democrats affordable housing plan, which would see us build 50,000 affordable-purchase homes over the next few years, in addition to what can be delivered in social housing and by private housing delivery. There is simply no excuse not to tackle the housing crisis in this budget and yet the Government has failed to do this.

On the specific measures in this budget, the pathetic 5% increase in stamp duty announced by the Government on the bulk purchase of homes shows it is simply not serious about tackling this at all and does not want to stamp out the practice of multi-billion euro funds snapping up homes, pushing up prices and pushing out first time buyers. For example, we saw this happening earlier this year in my constituency in Belcamp Manor where 85% of the new homes were snapped up by a fund. What action did the Government take at that time? None at all. It has taken them all year to come up with a paltry 5% increase in stamp duty, which they know will not be effective. It is worth remembering that this stamp duty applies to funds which buy homes that are already built and already exist. These are homes that could and should have been made available to individuals and families to buy. Last year we saw a 56% increase in the number of homes bought up by these funds paying the ineffective stamp duty rate. It shows yet again that the Government is not serious about tackling this and that the Government is on the side of the funds not the side of those people who are desperately trying to find an affordable place to live.

This budget also fails to take any action on the large subsidies and tax subsidies in place for international funds and investors. This is especially the case when it comes to the tax subsidies that international funds and REITs enjoy. Let us be very clear that favourable tax treatment for these funds is a subsidy. That is what it is. The situation is that REITs pay no capital gains tax, no corporation tax and no tax on the rental income. International investors and funds who are investing into REITs pay virtually no tax at all in this State while extracting huge profits from rental incomes. This highly favourable tax regime for international investors is unjust.

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It is a slap in the face for every Irish worker who contributes, through taxation, to fund our public services. The Social Democrats proposed a levy on REITs to ensure that they would at least make some contribution towards our services with the profits they make. Is there another country in the world that subsidises large international funds in this way to provide very expensive rental accommodation? I do not believe there is. Other countries put their subsidies and supports into affordable housing to make sure there is more available for people. It is no wonder that, under this Government, rents, house prices and rates of homelessness have never been higher given that it is subsidising funds that are making huge profits by extracting very high rents.

Part of the sweetheart deals is how the Government backs long-term leasing deals as a further subsidy to these funds. In today's budget there was no fanfare from the Government on this. It was just buried in the detail. We have seen the Government breaking the commitment it gave over the last few years on long-term leasing. Time and again, the Government has told us it is winding down long-term leasing, these sweetheart deals that ensure that, over 20 or 30 years, the State pays the entire cost of financing a home yet leaves the investment fund with full ownership at the end. This is incredibly bad value for money but, of course, we have come to expect this from the Government. It is not interested in value for money. It has presided over a bike shed being built that cost more than a new home. Value for money seems to mean nothing to this Government. We were promised that these sweetheart leasing deals would be wound down, yet today the Government announces 7,400 new long-term leasing deals over the next year. This is on top of the 38,000 long-term leasing deals the State has already signed up for. This measure is simply a bailout for developers doing projects that are otherwise not viable to build. What the State should be doing is buying these sites that are not viable and building social and affordable housing on them instead. The approach being taken by the Government is the worst possible in terms of value for money. In 20 or 30 years, when these loans have been paid off by the taxpayer, we will not own a single one of these homes. This bankrolling of developers and bailing out of speculators with these sweetheart deals simply cannot be justified.

The vacant homes tax increase from 0.51% to 0.72% is pathetic and will not act as a deterrent to anyone sitting on a property and watching its value increase by about 10% per year by doing nothing. It is yet another half-hearted measure by the Government to make it look like it is doing something about the housing crisis. As we have been saying repeatedly, we need a vacancy tax with teeth to bring thousands of vacant homes back into use. In our alternative budget, the Social Democrats proposed a vacancy tax of 10%, which would be effective. It is time to stop fiddling around with tiny increases year after year and to take the housing, homelessness and vacancy crises seriously.

On housing adaptation grants, I welcome the Government announcement that the income threshold and maximum grant will increase. Housing adaptation grants are an excellent support to help people to stay in their homes and continue to live independently. They are very good for people's well-being and health. That being said, these measures are long overdue. The grants have failed to keep up with significant levels of housing construction inflation. The review into housing adaptation grants was due to be published before the end of 2022. Why has it taken the Government two years to act on this? Was it simply holding back on this decision and much-needed announcement because it wanted to announce some good news a few weeks before an election was called?

It is not simply a question of the thresholds and maximum grants. The number of grants being awarded needs to be looked at. The Government funded fewer housing adaptation grants in 2024 than in 2010. What has happened between 2010 and 2024? There has been a huge increase in the number of people aged 65 and over, with a rise of almost 300,000 people in the last 14 years. The fact that fewer grants are now being awarded is highly significant and the Government should be tackling it. There are significant waiting lists for the housing adaptation grants. People simply cannot wait. If someone needs a chair-lift to get up and down stairs and stay in their home, they should not be left waiting. The Department gave a commitment in 2019 to publish data about waiting lists. We are still waiting on that commitment to be honoured. We know that information published by ALONE under the Freedom of Information Act showed several local authorities with significant waiting lists. ALONE estimates that up to 5,000 people are affected. We need an increase in the number of grants awarded and we need the information about the waiting lists to be published and for measures to be taken on this issue.

Never before has the opportunity for a Government to fix our housing crisis been so great. Never before has the need been so great, with record rents, house prices, numbers of people living in homeless emergency accommodation and record numbers of children growing up without a home. Never before has the need been so great and never before have so many resources been available to tackle this and has such an opportunity to tackle this been squandered. The Government had an open goal to take action on the housing crisis in this budget. Not only has it failed to get the ball into the back of the net, it appears the Government is not even on the pitch when it comes to fixing the housing crisis.

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