Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. I thank him for coming to Fine Gael's parliamentary party meeting the other evening. It was very informative and very positive and is something I would like to see more of across parties.

Access to affordable housing is one of the most immediate and urgent challenges facing young people, middle income earners and families today in Ireland, including in my home county, Longford. This Bill is about individuals and families who want to be able to rent their own homes and to aspire to own their own homes. In the entirety of my county, Longford, there has been no development of any private houses in 12 years - not one private home built. The Government takes the housing crisis extremely seriously, is taking action and is willing to deliver social, affordable and private housing via any mechanism possible. It is willing to deliver what is most needed, and that is homes. It is right that the State uses every available asset it has to support its citizens. It is right that a combination of the Affordable Housing Bill, the Land Development Agency and budgets will provide affordable homes for decades to come. For generations to come the legislation we are debating now will restore affordable home ownership. That will be the norm in the future.

This will not happen immediately, however, and will take time to bed in. It is important we look at the repair and lease scheme, and I welcome the increase from €40,000 to €60,000 in respect of the limits on that. We also need to bring in a range of tax incentives. Senator Dolan mentioned earlier the 180,000 vacant houses in the 2016 census. We need to unlock them, and whatever measures have to be put in place we need to put in place immediately. Both Senators Currie and Lombard mentioned build costs. This gets lost in the conversation. People do not realise the high build costs there are. There is a shortage of timber, which has been caused by individuals objecting to felling licences, and there has been an increase in the price of steel. The price of glass has increased. I spoke only the other day to an insurance company that has quoted a price of €200 per square foot to cover the cost of a rebuild in my county, Longford. This would have an average semi-detached heading for €300,000, whereas ten years ago you could buy a three-bedroom semi-detached in Longford for about €60,000. Now we are looking at a minimum of €250,000 to build that same house.

I sincerely welcome the funding the Minister made available for the retrofit schemes for the voids and the houses in respect of which Longford County Council has issued CPOs. The programme for Government, Our Shared Future, commits the Government to building on the foundation of Rebuilding Ireland to deliver housing for all. The document expresses the core belief that everybody should have access to good-quality housing for purchase or at an affordable rent. I welcome the flexibility of the first-time buyer rule in the Bill for those who previously had a dwelling as part of a marriage that may have ended, those who sold or lost homes due to insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings and those who are in homes that are too small for their current needs. I welcome the standardisation of the scheme of priority for affordable purchase homes and the introduction of the 30% flexibility for local authorities to prioritise those who perhaps do not meet the standard criteria. We also need to ensure, however, that a percentage of the affordable homes that are built be designed in a way that is appropriate to the needs of those with a disability. That has not been mentioned very much. Many disabled people long for independent living in appropriate housing.

The second measure is cost-rental. This targets specifically those whose earnings are above the income threshold for social housing and who are trapped in high-cost rental accommodation. It is intended that cost-rental properties will involve long-term, secure tenancies. This is based on the Vienna model, with rents charged to cover the cost of delivering, financing, maintaining and managing the homes. As rents will be linked to the consumer price index, these homes will in fact get more affordable as time progresses. I recently dealt with a case in my home county of a father whose marriage had broken up. He is no longer in the family home, is struggling to pay rent and is just above the social housing income threshold because the maintenance he pays is not being taken into account as an expense. We need to be able to do more for people all over the country who are in the same position.We need to look after our youth. I received an email a couple of weeks ago from someone criticising Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for this Government's continued inaction, which has left their generation with the late purchase of a home and crippled them with repayments all the way to retirement. If they are not renting until retirement before God knows what happens, they are overpaying for a house they do not really want, just for the sake of having a home. I will come back to them, because this Bill go a long way to address those issues. This is the biggest issue we face outside Covid-19 and this Bill will assist us in delivering affordable purchase and rental homes.