Dáil debates
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Topical Issue Debate
Housing Issues
4:20 pm
Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I thank the Minister of State for taking my Topical Issue. My remarks are addressed not personally to the Minister of State, but to the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, as the people who brought forward the new housing package on stabilising rents and boosting supply this week. The package includes a number of good measures which people can rightly welcome, such as the extended period for rent reviews, longer notice of rent reviews and the increased role of the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, in giving tenants extra certainty, challenging rent increases and providing oversight for landlords and tenants. The measures will help Galway.
During the boom, Galway city did not create vast ghost estates or overbuild. Rather, the authorities there were careful and cautious. As a result, when the downturn happened, we had one small ghost estate, the position in respect of which was remedied quickly thanks to the then Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, who secured funding for it. However, this means that as the economy has improved, the housing shortage in Galway has been particularly significant. Rent for a three-bed semi-detached house increased from €800 per month in 2011 to €1,200 per month at present, a 50% increase in some cases. The level of increase has been even higher in some parts of the city. Houses that were selling for €160,000 or €180,000 are now being sold for €220,000 to €240,000, which is a staggering increase. During the past four to five years, a maximum of 240 houses have been built in Galway city. Many of them were one-off projects built by people with sites. There is no serious housing construction of any kind, with the exception of one or two properties being developed by NAMA.
I had hoped the report would contain ambitious measures for an increase in housing supply in Galway, bearing in mind that last year's Housing Agency report on housing supply requirements in Ireland stated that between 2015 and 2018, Galway city would require an additional 2,300 units in order to keep up with demand and prevent a crisis. We have already reached crisis point but this number of units would ameliorate the position by increasing supply. The document published this week, to much fanfare, acknowledges that "a major contributing factor to the current rental crisis is the lack of sufficient construction activity in the Dublin and Cork regions". While I will not deny there is insufficient construction activity in the Dublin and Cork regions, there is also a severe lack of construction - indeed a total absence of construction - in Galway city.
Galway is not a rural town in the west. It is, rather, a regional capital which deserves to be treated like the serious urban centre it is. It is the regional capital of the west and has the same problems in respect of housing construction and supply as Dublin and Cork. If the Department is waiting for Galway to reach the same crisis point as Dublin, this is the way to go. If it wants to have some kind of long-term vision, it must realise that we already have 12 families per week presenting as homeless and major supply problems. The bias in the social housing programme towards Cork and Dublin is already evident. It is unacceptable that the third largest city in Ireland should be excluded from measures to increase housing supply while Dublin and Cork are treated as the only urban areas, and I want it changed.
Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
As the Deputy will be aware, housing is one of the most pressing issues facing our country. Our economy has recovered even faster than we might have hoped at the start of our Administration and one of the implications of the recovery and the employment growth it has delivered has been a resurgent demand for housing, principally in the areas that first experienced the benefit of the recovery, particularly Dublin and Cork. Construction, or an unsustainable reliance on it as a driver, rather than facilitator, of our economy, played a dominant role in our previous economic collapse and is the sector taking the longest to restructure. Accordingly, the Government has put in place a range of initiatives to address the gap that has emerged between housing demand and supply. The Government's Construction 2020 strategy foresaw the difficulties and specifically mandated my Department to establish a Dublin housing supply and co-ordination task force. While the Construction 2020 measures will begin to have wider effects in reducing costs and improving affordability from 2018 onwards, analysis has shown that an even more immediate and short-term initiative is required in Dublin and Cork.
The latest figures for Dublin, for example, show that house completions for the first nine months of 2015 were down 14% on the first nine months of 2014 and are likely to meet just one third of requirements. Analysis undertaken by the Dublin housing supply and co-ordination task force and other local authorities at the same time shows that there is planning permission for 21,000 units across the four Dublin local authorities and for 3,000 units in Cork.
I would like to address the Deputy's issues in Galway. The authorities in the city are to be congratulated on keeping a measured approach to housing during the Celtic tiger period. Perhaps having just one ghost estate is something to be extremely proud of. The Government has decided to introduce supply-related measures. I refer to the time-limited development contribution rebate, which is designed to enhance the viability of construction at locations of greatest need and at price points that people can afford. Therefore, this initiative is logically targeted at the Dublin local authority areas and at Cork city and suburbs. It has already been mentioned that the inadequacy of supply of affordable housing is most acute in such areas. The development contribution rebate is an aspect of the Government's overall package on housing that is targeted in Dublin and Cork for housing delivered at certain price points. This package, which contains a broader range of measures to stimulate and facilitate the provision of housing supply nationally, will benefit all areas and regional cities, including Galway. These measures include changes to planning guidelines on apartment standards. The State's strategic investment fund will support the delivery of enabling infrastructure. Measures are being introduced to maximise the potential of strategic development zones. NAMA is introducing measures to finance the delivery of 20,000 residential units by 2020. I will conclude by reiterating that with the exception of the development contribution rebate, the Government's actions on the urgent and pressing issue of housing development will support regional cities like Galway.
4:30 pm
Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
No houses are being built.
Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I want the official in the Department of Finance who decided not to spend this money on Galway or Limerick to listen carefully. I emphasise that my remarks are not directed at the Minister of State, but at an official who is presumably in an office somewhere watching this debate. It is an absolute nonsense to say that this "initiative is logically targeted at the Dublin local authority areas and at Cork" because the inadequacy of supply "is most acute" in such areas. As I have said, there has been damn all construction in Galway for five years. It is in the middle of a housing crisis which is just as acute as that in Dublin and Cork. Galway is a regional capital, as opposed to a regional city. I suggest that the relevant officials need to get out of Dublin every so often. If they go to Galway, they can go to the local authority offices and see for themselves the price escalations, the rent increases and the complete lack of construction that is taking place.
I assume legislation will have to be introduced to enable this measure to be advanced. If so, I will target it at every stage to seek to amend it. I will do everything I can to lobby to get Galway and possibly Limerick included in this scheme. I am sure people from Limerick are affected by this crisis. According to the Housing Agency, Galway needs 2,300 houses by 2018. No houses are being built at present. To me, that is an indication that something is seriously wrong, as is the fact that, to be frank, these supports are being focused on cities that have Ministers. I want Galway to be included in this report. The current proposal is not fair. We have been subjected to this kind of anti-west of Ireland discrimination for long enough. I want this to change. If one lives in Galway and wants to buy a house in Galway or get a local authority house in Galway, that does not mean one is any different from anyone in Cork or Dublin. If representatives of the Department want to tell me that the number of houses in Galway which can benefit from this scheme is quite small, I will say "then it will not cost very much at all" and that is how we will sort it. I want answers from the Ministers for the Environment, Community and Local Government and Finance. How do they propose to change this measure to ensure the people of Galway, who deserve to be treated equally on this matter, are included in it as is only right?
Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
Has the Deputy not noticed that they are not building any housing anywhere?
Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I will take on board the very good points that have been made by Deputy Nolan. I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Kelly, about this issue, which relates to Galway and other areas throughout the country. I remind Deputy Nolan that when we debated the housing crisis in this House some months ago, he described it as a "perfect storm". I know he is well aware of the pressure that is encountered when efforts are made to respond to housing situations. These pressure is one of the legacy issues inherited by this Government from the previous Administration, which left it to the private sector to provide all house-building.
Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
That is still the case.
Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
A range of housing supply measures involving the private rented sector were announced earlier this week. These measures are designed to give rent certainty to tenants, to better protect tenants in their homes and to provide clarity to tenants and landlords across the country regarding their rights and obligations. Under the social housing strategy, there are substantial targets and funding resources for the delivery of social housing by local authorities, including Galway City Council. We are confident that a supply response will be forthcoming. The challenge now is for the construction sector to respond. It is time to see what that sector can deliver. I will undertake to bring the issue raised by Deputy Nolan to the Minister, Deputy Kelly.