Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are all agreed that we need to find urgent solutions to the housing challenge that we face but they need to be sustainable. I listened with interest to Senator McDowell's contribution which was Dublin centric. There are many housing issues right around the country, but they are most concentrated in the largest urban area. I have often compared Dublin to an economic vortex where a great deal of the activity in economic terms is happening, and that is rightly so as our capital, but it needs to happen in a planned and sustainable way. I hold out great hope for the new national planning framework 2040, which the Minister is due to announce shortly. It is my hope that the vision in that plan can be implemented in a sustainable way that will allow Dublin to develop to accommodate the needs of our people into the future and that it will also allow for other regional centres to drive the regional economies.

On the planning issues Senator McDowell mentioned, I certainly would be in favour of more high rise appropriate developments in appropriate locations in Dublin, not in the Georgian quarter but there are areas in Dublin where high rise developments would be acceptable and the Minister and his officials should consider where there is sustainable development and where the services already exist. Interventions could be made immediately in that respect.

The housing crisis needs the collaboration of many stakeholders.I do not need to tell the Minister that. It is important that officials in the Minister's Department and in the Department of Finance, are aligned with the objectives he is setting out. Members of the Oireachtas, including members of committees, play an important role in shaping and formulating the policies that emerge and enablers of those policies - local authorities and approved housing bodies - must be given the resources to deliver housing through direct build and other initiatives. That has been happening in the past couple of years but we need to see more of it. The delivery must be measured so that we know it is being done in the most efficient and coherent way possible and in accordance with the policy handed down by the Oireachtas and the Minister.

The NGOs and voluntary agencies play a role, as do elected members of local authorities. Councillors around the country have called for more resources for housing but then, when it is allocated and ready to move, there are objections from those very same councillors. We need to decide which way we want to go, to align all our support and push forward so that we can build the houses that are so badly needed.

The construction sector is a very important stakeholder. As we know, it has been destroyed over the past number of years. There is a huge potential for builders to access credit to build but to this day many still cannot get it from the various finance houses and banks. Some interventions are needed to assist builders to get building and enable them to do what they do best. It must be done in a sustainable way and we must not go back to the unsustainable practices of the past. The new planning framework and the capital investment plan contain the tools to drive that type of development where it is most needed.

I welcome the recent housing summit and the re-evaluation of the Rebuilding Ireland plan because for any plan to work, it needs finances and resources. The Minister is looking at this and I welcome some of the initiatives he has already announced, not to mention those he is due to announce. We need to prioritise areas that can give us the earliest possible delivery of housing and vacant housing stock, in both local authorities and the private sector, needs to be focused on. Huge progress has been made since 2014 in unlocking vacant housing stock in local authorities around the country but more initiatives are needed. The serviced land initiative is also very important to unlock the potential of serviced lands to build houses on. We need priorities and homelessness has to be the main priority for all of us. Those who are at risk of losing their homes must get the support they require to stay there if possible. The new initiatives around the mortgage-to-rent scheme are welcome but we need to constantly measure and evaluate them.

We also need to continue to support the homeless through wraparound services involving the HSE and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, to ensure people in complex long-term homelessness cases are getting the supports they need. The establishment of the interagency homeless group is very welcome, because we need greater co-ordination and coherence in the deployment of taxpayers' funds at the coalface. I understand that over €100 million is being allocated to homeless services through various avenues and that a very high percentage of it goes into the voluntary sector, which does a great job. We need further analysis of how that money is being spent, however, because despite the huge resources going into it we are not, unfortunately, seeing enough progress. We need to measure how local authorities, approved housing bodies and any agency that accepts taxpayers' money are delivering social housing and housing solutions in a timely and efficient fashion. We need to recognise that building does not come overnight but requires planning, funding and physical building. We need to remove the blockages and bureaucracy about which people have spoken and continue to evaluate it.

I have concerns about the whole area of affordability. We often hear about homelessness, and rightly so, but we do not hear about what I believe is a silent cohort of citizens who cannot afford a house in the current economic environment. They are people who are working and cannot qualify for a mortgage to buy or build their own home. They earn so much that they do not qualify for a social house through the local authority. These people are falling between stools and they need a voice. I want to be a voice for them. It is important we look at housing initiatives to assist them where rental pressures are greatest, namely, in the rent pressure zones. When they are competing for housing in those areas they also impact on the housing assistance payment, HAP, cohort and young professionals now cannot afford the rent in these areas. We need to think outside the box and come up with new initiatives for affordable build, purchase and rent. If we get those solutions they will bring immediate benefits, in the shape of another tier of housing provision for those who are working and by taking the pressure off HAP tenants who are also looking in the private sector. It will also create a demand and provide funding for the builders who cannot get credit to build, unlocking their potential to increase the housing supply.

I do not envy the Minister his job of work but I offer him my full support. I have been in his shoes in the past and I recognise the enormity of his challenge but I believe he is making strong progress in putting in place his plans and finance. He will need all stakeholders to be pulling the same way with him if we are going to achieve the progress we want in social and all types of housing. I wish him well in his endeavour.