Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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152. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to reduce unaffordable rents in the private sector. [17818/26]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister has introduced legislation allowing landlords to reset rents upwards, which is unbelievable when rents are already unaffordable for the vast majority of people and we have an unprecedented homelessness crisis. Does the Minister have any plans to make rents affordable in the private rental sector or is he just admitting this is a Government that is about increasing rents in order to benefit landlords who profit from the housing misery that results from unaffordable rents?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Affordability very much is at the heart of the Government's housing policy, as embodied within the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030. The Government is targeting the delivery of 300,000 new homes by 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable supports. The plan reinforces and expands the range of existing measures being implemented by Government to tackle the issues of supply and affordability, thereby supporting the increased provision of new homes to purchase and rent. Further Government measures introduced to support renters include the increase in the tax credit for renters under budget 2025 to a maximum of €1,000 for each renter in a household. Budget 2026 extends the rent tax credit, which was due to expire at the end of 2025, for a further three years to the end of 2028. The programme for Government commits to extending it. Record levels of social and affordable housing delivery have been achieved in recent years, with preliminary 2025 figures indicating further record levels of delivery. I am providing substantial funding to local authorities, the Land Development Agency and to approved housing bodies to support increased delivery. The national development plan has committed record levels of funding for new social and affordable housing, totalling almost €20 billion. Since the launch of cost rental in 2021, around €2.25 billion in Exchequer funding has been approved for cost rental projects. Beyond my Department, very significant loan funding is also being provided from the State's Housing Finance Agency. The lowering of VAT on new apartments to 9% under budget 2026 will also assist in the delivery of new homes into the cost-rental sector at lower cost.

The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 2026 came into effect on 1 March, introducing a new national rent control for all tenancies which limits rent increases to inflation as measured by the consumer price index up to a maximum of 2%. For new-build apartments and student-specific accommodation, however, rent increases are capped at the level of inflation CPI only. These changes were introduced to promote greater investment in the rental market, to increase supply of rental properties.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That is all just meaningless drivel for the people out there looking for affordable rents.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is unbelievable. Average incomes in this country are €55,000 to €60,000. Many if not most people earn less than that. Take-home pay is €3,300 to €3,600 a month after tax. If you are looking for a three-bedroom apartment in Dún Laoghaire, you will not find anything below €3,000 today. Most of them are €4,500. I will read out a few figures in my area: €3,800, €3,050 and €3,650. More than 100% of the take-home income of the average worker is needed for the rents that are being looked for today. Suzanne, whose family is in an overcrowded two-bed, is looking for a three-bed. She is paying €1,700 and that is what is available for her and her two kids. She is going to end up homeless or staying in overcrowded accommodation, as are many people. It is an impossible situation and the Minister has got nothing at all to say to people.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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We do have a lot to say to people. We have already delivered a record number of homes last year. Since Housing for All came in, we delivered 36,000 homes last year. We have provided tax breaks for renters as well. We know the only way we can address the homeless crisis, the rent crisis and the housing crisis is through increasing the supply. We cannot calcify the current situation forever. I know it is popular for Deputies opposite to say they want an eviction ban and to freeze rents. They are just going to exacerbate the situation as the population increases as a result of more people coming into this country, which is fantastic. The diversity is wonderful for our country but we have to drive the supply. The State cannot provide all homes to deliver that.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Seriously, young working people looking for accommodation are goosed with this Government. The Minister says supply is the answer. I am on the budget scrutiny committee. The Department of Finance in the Future Forty report is projecting that supply will not reach the level where it is possible, theoretically, that prices could come down until the end of the 2030s. We are stuck. Suzanne, who is looking to get from an overcrowded situation and is facing those rents, is goosed until the end of the 2030s. Another couple I am dealing with, who have two kids, got a notice to quit and are now living with neighbours. They have to wait until the end of the 2030s. We can actually control rents. They do it in other countries. Why will the Minister not control rents? Why does he allow rents to reach these unaffordable levels? Why does he allow people to be evicted? Why does he allow landlords to reset rents up to the highest levels when there is nowhere that can be afforded by average working people looking for a roof over their head?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Short-term protectionism is only exacerbating this situation. I want to give people hope. We delivered over 36,000 new homes last year. That is the highest number of homes since Housing for All came in. We delivered an awful lot more homes 20 years ago. In my view, the kind of protectionism we brought in has undermined the supply of those homes. We need to get back to delivering at least 50,000 homes a year. Going back 20 years, at one stage it was 90,000. I think those numbers were questionable, which is why we now rely on CSO data. There was still significantly more than we are delivering now. We need to ensure we have that framework and deliver the supply of homes people need right across the country. We are in a housing crisis. I am the first to admit it. The only way to get out of it is through supply, not through more and more protectionism.