Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also appeal to Senator Warfield to withdraw this amendment. I believe the Senator understands the housing crisis. His friends are affected by it and I believe they would want every power and asset of the State to be used to help them secure an affordable home. If this amendment is made, it will curtail the powers of the Land Development Agency, which is being established as a statutory agency, to maximise State-owned lands to deliver affordable homes.

We know that our housing crisis is characterised by two elements; one is supply and the second is affordability. To increase supply, we should be using all State-owned lands to deliver an increased supply of housing, including affordable housing to purchase and rent. We must deliver rental homes that will provide people with secure homes on a long-term basis at an affordable price. That is what the Land Development Agency is being set up to do. It is being put on a statutory footing to enable the delivery of thousands of affordable homes, both to purchase and to rent. If we were to support the amendment, we would essentially be saying that this State agency cannot deliver affordable homes.Essentially, it would undermine all our efforts to address the housing crisis and to use the State's assets, lands and capacity to plan, design and fund affordable homes for our people, including for the Senator's friends.

I urge that this amendment be withdrawn. I say that because I have heard the alternative idea proposed of relying on local authorities. In that context, the Senator's previous amendment, which we supported, sought to expand the number of organisations which can provide affordable housing, such as NGOs, not-for-profits and co-operatives. We supported that amendment because we recognise - everybody should recognise it because local authorities have said it loud and clear - that local authorities do not have the capacity to deliver affordable homes. That is why I submitted my amendment. When representatives of the local authorities from the County and City Management Association, CCMA, appeared before the housing committee, they were able to identify for us their social housing targets. As the Minister of State indicated, local authorities are undertaking the biggest social housing building programme in a decade.

We want the local authorities to go further, however. We want the State to take the lead in the provision of social and affordable housing, and that is why I am seeking, by means of my amendment, to set targets for local authorities to deliver affordable homes for purchase and for rent. If we accept the amendment under discussion, however, it will undermine all our efforts. It will take away the potential for all that State-owned land to deliver hundreds and thousands of affordable homes across the country. This amendment would remove that potential, and I do not think that is what any of us wants to happen.

We all want to use all the State's assets and powers to deliver homes. From talking to people in the local authority in Dublin city, which is the biggest in the country, I know that Mr. Brendan Kenny, the deputy chief executive of Dublin City Council, DCC, gave a report to councillors some months ago which detailed how the local authority is not equipped, and would not be recommended, to set itself up as a building authority. Those are not my words or Fianna Fáil spin, they come from deputy chief executive of the largest local authority in the country. Facing the greatest level of housing pressure, he is seeking to use every available resource to solve this housing crisis, including social and affordable housing. The LDA will help DCC and all the other local authorities to scale up from the perspective of planning, design and financing. It will also enable local authorities to not just deliver affordable homes for purchase, but also for rent. As a result, I urge the Senator to please withdraw this amendment. The Land Development Agency Bill 2020 is going to come before the House and if the Senator wishes to make amendments then, we can do so. I urge him not to undermine the power the legislation before us can bring in the context of helping all of our friends who want to have affordable homes.