Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 4 refers to the setting of initiatives in respect of affordable housing and creating arrangements. When we discussed this Bill on Committee Stage one of the points was that many of these pieces of knowledge are what local authorities can put into the mix. The amendment seeks to create an explicit link in terms of housing or local authorities bringing that to bear, thus ensuring we have affordable housing initiatives that are located near playgrounds and routes to hospitals and facilitate the public transport and access goals of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, of which I am a member.

I hope that new social housing initiatives would look to these and as partnerships are formed it is important to make these points explicit. In a way, they complement the amendment I mentioned in terms of sustainability and sustainable development goal, SDG, 11 in terms of the idea of sustainable cities and communities. They are also relevant in terms of things like our obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities whereby there is an obligation and an onus on us to ensure accessibility, and that affordable dwellings are not created in a space that can become very isolated.

The amendment is really sensible and does not take from anything. It simply asks for the information that is already within local authorities be applied in respect of this new area of partnership and decision-making that they might engage with in terms of affordable housing. If anything, accepting the amendment would ensure that there was a clear moment of thought and decision thus ensuring, within each affordable housing proposal, an explanation of how these matters had been considered. Even the very fact of that being included alongside a new affordable housing partnership or initiative would have a very positive impact.

The amendment is positive and refers to "the appropriateness of the location of dwellings in respect of facilitating access to public transport, education services, health services, public amenities and intergenerationally accessible public spaces".