Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Access to secure affordable housing is one of the most immediate and urgent challenges facing young people, modest income earners, workers and families in Ireland today. The Minister and the Government recognise that fact. The Minister also recognises that over the past ten years housing supply dropped, house prices inflated and homelessness exploded. I commend him and the Government for all of the actions they have taken to date.

The cost of renting and the buying of homes have increased by more than 40% since 2016 yet at the same time housing supply has plummeted. So we have a real crisis of both affordability and supply. That crisis is real, urgent and undermines citizens, society, the economy and our future. The urgency and timeliness of this legislation could not be more pressing.

The Minister and the Government's affordable housing plan recognises, I guess, the market's failure to deliver affordable housing. The plan is designed so that the State will take a lead in the provision of affordable housing. It will have the State take a lead in the provision of affordable housing and the increased supply of affordable housing.

We support the Affordable Housing Bill. We support the State taking this lead to help people on modest incomes and people who earn above the social income thresholds yet who are still priced out of owning their own home or just renting an affordable home. For the first time in a decade, as the Minister has said, local authorities will be empowered to build affordable homes both to purchase and rent on public land.

As the Minister has said, affordable homes that start at a price of €160,000 will introduce for the first time in the history of the State, and this has been talked about for years, affordable cost-rental homes. These are affordable cost-rental homes where renters have security of tenure, affordable rents and only pay rents for the construction and management of their homes.

The proposal to double, at a minimum, social and affordable housing that will be provided in every private development is welcome and to be supported. The proposed amendment to ring-fence a percentage of all new developments for first-time buyers will be supported also. The short-term measure where the State provides financial support to renters who pay more for rent than they would on a mortgage to secure their own affordable home is very welcome. I agree with the Minister that the issue has been distorted and misrepresented. I can tell him that I have been contacted by people who have been saving who pay more in rent than they would on a mortgage and welcome the Government's financial support to enable them to acquire their own home.

The Affordable Housing Bill will empower local authorities and get them back building homes in addition to their significant social housing building programme. There is the affordable housing element for local authorities to partner with the Land Development Agency. There is the establishment of the Land Development Agency on a statutory footing to manage public land so it is maximised for the delivery of affordable homes. That is to be welcomed. There is a combination of those two pieces of legislation with ambitious budgets. With budgets of €3.3 billion for the housing budget and €2.5 billion for the Land Development Agency, that is a significant financial power being invested by the State to deliver affordable homes both to purchase and to rent for people on modest incomes who work hard, pay their taxes and deserve to have secure affordable homes.

It is right that the State uses every available asset to support people. It is right that a combination of the Affordable Housing Bill, the Land Development Agency and the budgets will provide affordable homes for decades to come if this legislation is passed. For generations to come the legislation will restore home ownership and affordable home ownership.

The cost of land is a significant portion of the cost of a home. We all know this. We are going to use State-owned land to reduce the cost of providing homes. We will legislate then for affordable purchase and rental. We will control the use of that land and the value of the land. It has been said that it is the greatest land devaluation in the history of the State. That is taking place for a reason. It is taking place to invest in providing citizens with homes and to invest in communities, society and the economy.

The shared equity loan scheme shows a real commitment in the short term. We all know there has been a decade of undersupply of housing. We all know that there is no magic quantum of housing available to be built overnight. It takes time to plan, design and build. We know that the 35,000 housing target will be met by this Government over time. We also know that today there are 80,000 permissions granted for private housing that are unaffordable because of the cost of construction and private land, combined with the current bank lending rules. The shared equity loan scheme will bridge that gap for people who pay more in rent than they would on a mortgage. The scheme will allow them secure an affordable mortgage and allow the State to invest in their homes with them. It will also stimulate construction that is so desperately needed. If we all believe sincerely that we want to tackle the housing crisis then we need to use every single available tool to do so. There is no one silver bullet and no quick fix. In addition, people have waited too long. The urgency and need for modest income earners to know that they can have a secure and affordable home is real. They cannot tolerate any further delay.

Covid-19 has compounded the crisis of both affordability and supply. During Covid-19 we all recognised the real value of having a secure home and having some place safe to go for protection. That is not a luxury and should be a basic human right. That should be an essential human requirement. It is right that the State is taking this action. It is right that the plan is ambitious, radical and that we are going to combine it with the funding and the urgency to deliver.

We have all worked collectively to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic. I urge every Member of this House and the Dáil to work collectively. We all know and recognise that there is a housing crisis - a crisis of affordability and supply. If we want to really address that crisis and deliver for citizens then we need to support this affordable housing legislation that will see local authorities build affordable homes on public lands, both to purchase and rent, provide affordable cost-rental homes, double the allocation for social and affordable homes in every private development and, most importantly, in the short term provide financial support so that all of our citizens can move on and have a secure and affordable place to call home.