Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in to discuss this very important new housing policy. In election 2020, voters went out to vote and the vast majority of them voted for change. They voted for change on a number of issues but on one issue in particular, namely, housing. The Minister and I heard it, as did members of my party and members in all parties in government, and they understood the change voters were demanding. They wanted a change from the failed housing policies of the previous decade and we will deliver that in Housing for All.

The new Government faced many challenges, such as the immediate one of Covid-19 and the objective of protecting lives and livelihoods and it is recognised and credit is due to every front-line worker and everybody in our State who worked together to defeat the pandemic. Thankfully, we are coming out the far side of that. Climate action is a huge challenge facing us, not just on our island but globally, and the Government is also committed to working on that. Today, however, we are talking about housing.

In that regard, the Minister has not wasted the last year. I commend him because, he was firefighting a decade of undersupply of housing, the legacy of the co-living and the market-led approach, which has short-changed many people, especially young people, the pressures on people to pay rent to secure a home and the threat of homelessness. The Minister really understands all of those threats and has not only brought forward a plan which will bring us over the coming four years and the next decade but has also started to address those concerns in the immediate. He has already mentioned the protections and supports he put in place for renters during the pandemic. They were vital. Others would criticise them, but they made a real difference to people's lives by protecting them from becoming homeless.

The Minister secured record and historic budgets, not just in the past year, but with Housing for All. The big difference and change in this plan is there will be multi-annual funding. It is a State-led, as opposed to a market-led, approach to solving the housing crisis. It is all underpinned, not by fanciful electioneering leaflets or videos, but by legislation and Government policy. It says to all of government, not just the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government, at a national and local level, that this Government is absolutely committed to addressing the housing crisis, eradicating homelessness and ensuring everybody in our society has access to a secure and affordable home.

We will do that by increasing supply and ensuring affordability, by using the State's assets, the most valuable of which are our land and our human resources, available to us in our local authorities. The Minister's affordable housing legislation was the most comprehensive housing Bill. There are those who like to talk about a narrow section of that Act, which is a vital financial support to people who are paying more for rent than they can, would or should do, to own their own home through a mortgage. The big game changer in the Affordable Housing Act is the fact we are empowering local authorities. Affordable housing that was abolished back in 2011 will now be provided by local authorities and approved housing bodies, not just in the city, but in every county.

It is hugely important and it is by supporting and resourcing the local authorities and approved housing bodies that we will achieve the Minister's targets of 300,000 new homes; 54,000 affordable homes and 90,000 new social homes. That will be an average of 33,000 homes per year by the time we get to 2024. It will all only be achieved because the legislation and policies will underpin it and the funding will be there. I commend the Minister. I know he has his detractors but he should be encouraged to know that serious organisations dedicated to help those at the most acute end of our housing crisis, such as the Simon Community and the social housing and approved housing bodies have commended him and backed his plan because they know it differs from previous plans and has the legislation and multi-annual funding to deliver.

I was talking to somebody earlier about a few areas of the plan and while it now sets the direction and tone and will ensure the State's resources are all going in the right direction, as the Minister is aware there are a number of areas that we want to see progressed and on which we are already working through the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Some of them will fall to the Minister for Finance and they will be budgetary issues. I will run through a few of them. There was an historic homeless budget of €220 million last year and the fact Housing for All will be a housing-first approach, with the continuation and resourcing of preventions for homelessness by increasing the housing supply through delivering 90,000 new social homes, is really important.In the short term, as we did in Dublin, an increase in the homeless housing assistance payment facility, HAP, which is an operational and an annual budget issue, could be extended to other local authorities. We have raised this at the Oireachtas joint committee. The lease and repair scheme, which is funded by the Minister's Department, is very powerful in taking vacant housing stock, having it repaired and then leased for social housing. There is no faster way to increase the housing stock than to address the dereliction and the vacancy. The Minister knows this. As well as the lease and repair scheme, the Minister's Department funds local authorities to purchase homes that are going to be sold. That is very important.

The Minister's ban on co-living schemes sent a very strong message that we believe that people deserve an adequate form of housing and that this Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that. The Minister has also capped rents at inflation and this gives a lot of reassurance to renters. We are actually going to deliver affordable cost rental, which the Government has already started and the first tenants have moved in. By legislating for that, creating a scheme for it, and funding it, affordable cost rental is now a game changer for people.

On the student accommodation crisis that is being spoken about, the Minister has directed local authorities not to change the planning permissions where they have been granted for student accommodation. I put it to the Minister that there is also a financial way to stop that behaviour. It is not within the Minister's remit but I urge him to take it up with the Minister for Finance. Any purpose-built student accommodation that was built received a tax break based on the fact that it would provide accommodation to students from named educational institutions. If any of those operators now wish to change from being student accommodation providers they need to be aware that the tax treatment they enjoyed will not apply and will not travel. That is a matter for the Minister for Finance and for Revenue. I urge the Minister to take this up with them.

On the planning process, the ending of the strategic housing development plans and the introduction of the Minister's large-scale residential development planning application permissions is a really important game changer because it restores the democratic process at a local level.

The Cathaoirleach is being very generous with the time and I appreciate it. This House and all members of the Government parties are absolutely committed to realising the change and the vision that is being projected in the Minister's Housing for All plan. We need to make this change for generations to come and the Minister has our full support.