Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I do not doubt his personal commitment to this job but it is interesting to look at the housing debate.There was a confidence and supply Government, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael effectively supporting each other. There was Rebuilding Ireland, which is still Government policy. I contacted the Department today to confirm that. While I acknowledge that the Minister is now playing a new policy, that is the reality.

I thank the Minister for comprehensively outlining the Bill. It is regrettable that the Government has not adopted a working definition of affordability based on disposable income. In order for home ownership to be made feasible, affordability must be tied to income, not the market. We hear all sorts of talk, such as the cap of €450,000 for a property in Dublin city or Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, where I live. The Central Bank rules, however, allow for up to 3.5 times a person's income. Not everyone is living on a combined income. There seems to be an expectation that someone has to live with someone else, on two incomes, when we work out the cost to pay.

The Minister is correct that it is about supply and affordability, whether someone is renting or buying a home. We need to reconsider the model of public housing. I am a supporter of public housing. We do not all need to own our own homes, although we might aspire to do so. A large part of our personal equity, our savings and the income we have earned is tied up in homes. We have this belief that everyone must own a home. Everyone has a right to a secure and safe home but we do not have to get hung up on the idea of home ownership. I spoke to a woman the other day who has just retired at 66 years of age. She would like to cash in her chips and be able to rent an affordable home but she cannot get one. I strongly believe that the cost of rental homes is also important and we need to address it.

What is the definition of affordable housing? It is not defined in the Bill. I thank the Oireachtas Library and Research Service for its paperwork and what it has done. It has done a great deal of work on this. There is no mention of income. The Bill states that a house built or made available in a certain way is affordable, regardless of whether anyone can afford it. In Dublin, rents have increased by 42% in the past six years. One of the cuckoo fund managers was quoted in the Sunday Independentyesterday as saying they had never seen rental increases like that in any jurisdiction of which they are aware.

We need to look at public housing and we must have a definition of what it means. The Minister spoke earlier about the Vienna model, whereby people can access housing at all times. It is secure tenure, a well as fair and capped rent. That is what people want. They want secure tenure and proper rents. To suggest that all these houses are out there and that people can have them is just not the reality. The Vienna model does this by adopting a general needs approach to housing provision and delivering secure, long-term and innovative public rental housing, as well as designed neighbourhoods. In Vienna, higher-income earners can also access the public housing sector. Up to two thirds of Vienna's 1.9 million population live in public housing and are happy to do so. I have visited the city a number of times and seen the schemes. They are excellent. It is important that we understand the meaning of public housing.

I think we are all in agreement. I have no hang-up on any ideology. Quite frankly, I do not care who builds the houses. There is room for approved housing bodies, AHBs, the private sector, the public sector and the councils. Anybody who can build houses in an affordable way and pass them on is to be accepted. It is about secure tenure, affordability and the supply of units. The Minister spoke about the cap of €320,000 in counties Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow, and €250,000 in the rest of the country. He spoke about the cap of €450,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. Today I looked on daft.ie. The cheapest house I could find in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was listed at €335,000 for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 60 sq. m, terraced house in bits. If one looks at the Central Bank mortgage rules and the income required to get a mortgage for that house, one does not have to be a mathematician to work it out, at 3.5 times the person's income. A couple on a combined income of €100,000 - some might say that is not realistic but it is - can borrow up to €350,000. For that falling-down house in bits in Dún Laoghaire for €350,000, I do not know whether that couple would even get approval for a mortgage for it. We have a problem. It is difficult to hear the Minister speak about capping property prices in Dublin city and Dún Laoghaire at €450,000 because it is not realistic.

As I said, I am not hung up on the ideology of how we establish it, but we need to look more closely at setting up a public housing trust. There is a slogan, "public houses on public land". I believe in it, although some were critical of it yesterday. I am not in the business of sloganeering but that is what the public want. It is what people say they want. It is what the media were commenting on all weekend. They believe it is a public asset and there should be public housing. As is the case in the Vienna model, people on any income could avail of it. I am not in favour of selling public housing. One of our great problems is that we sold off our public housing stock. I was a member of a local authority for more than 20 years and I saw lovely tram cottages in Dalkey, Blackrock and other places sold for €10,000 and €15,000. Today, they are going for €780,000, and that is only one generation removed from those who bought them, moved to Wexford, Arklow, Waterford, Louth or Mullingar, hated it, wanted to get back but could not afford to do so, with all the knock-on effects on communities and the housing market.

I look forward to engaging further with the Minister on Committee Stage. I cannot let this opportunity pass without saying I would like to hear what the Government intends to do about cuckoo funds. They need their wings clipped. Clearly, we have a serious problem. The people are angry and disappointed. When they hear that the Government has invested money in these funds in the past, they see it as the Government silently supporting them. We seem to be hooked on that. It is all about keeping the messages simple. People, such as teachers, doctors and, dare I say it, Deputies and Senators, have no homes. They are priced out. They cannot afford to buy homes. They may want either to buy or to rent a home, but it is all about affordability and supply. I wish the Minister well in what is a very difficult task. We all know that the Government will be judged on a handful of issues, namely, housing, health, youth unemployment and, possibly, childcare. They are the key issues on which all members of the Government have to deliver, and I wish them well.