Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. As I sat listening to the debate, I realised the Ministers with responsibility for housing are the Ministers we see most in this House. As stated by Senator Fitzpatrick, that is an acknowledgement that the Government recognises that at every door we go to, housing is an issue. We are determined to fix this problem. The Green Party stepped up to the plate and entered into government on the key issues of housing and climate change because we want to make a difference in people's lives.

On Housing for All, it is sometimes difficult for people to get their heads around a plan. It is great to have a Twitter line to go out, but this plan sets out 213 concrete steps and that can sometimes be difficult to articulate. There is a different housing need in almost every household canvassed. This plan looks at all of the housing needs and it provides a comprehensive way forward for tackling each need. The plan is comprehensive. It includes targets for all types of housing and, critically, it is funded. It contains a raft of innovative policy measures from the ending of the SHD process to the introduction of a tax on land, tackling Airbnbs, a town centre first type approach under Croí Cónaithe and a centre of excellence for innovation. It is important that a plan has incentives and disincentives, or a carrot and stick approach. This plan has both because that is what is required to get the policy outcomes we need.

The plan recognises that this is not just about building houses. I use the word "just" because while building houses is critical, at the heart of any plan must also be the development of sustainable communities. The plan recognises that housing must be in the right place, with the right services, for a community to flourish. Several amendments were made to other Bills that came before this House on that issue. I too encourage the Minister to insert the wording around sustainable communities in this Bill. The plan is underpinned by two major legislative innovations which came before this House prior to the summer recess, that is, the Affordable Housing Act 2021, which we discussed at length, and the Land Development Agency Act 2021, both of which work hand-in-hand. The actions are clear and timelined and there is a responsible party tasked with oversight of their implementation.

This plan recognises the scale of the crisis and has within it the means of solution. However, as mentioned, having a plan is in some ways the easy part. There have been other plans. This plan will only be a success if all arms of government are behind it and if every local authority and semi-State body in the areas of transport, energy, water and communications, approved housing bodies and co-operatives, not-for-profit agencies and, importantly, every community in Ireland, plays its part in achieving housing for all. This is a national crisis, ongoing now for a decade or more. It is not solely a matter for the Government, but Government is showing by way of this plan that it is playing its part. It will, however, be up to every county and city councillor to play their part. There is no government when it comes to county or city councils. There is an obligation on Government but so too there is an obligation on the Opposition. I take on board Senator Moynihan's point that it is the place of Opposition to hold Government to account, but in this particular instance it is also the place of councillors from Opposition parties to play their part in voting through housing proposals that come before their councils.It is not only about voting through housing proposals and having enough houses but also having them in the right places for the people who are most vulnerable. That means providing housing for Travellers, building social housing, adopting a Housing First approach to homelessness and ending emergency accommodation. Crucially, it will be up to members of the public in every area to understand that if somebody is homeless in their area, it reflects on all of us. It is up to all of us to ensure we play our part. I was pleased to note that a survey in The Irish Timesfound that the majority of people agree with that view and are in favour of having social housing in their areas. City and county councillors need to take that on board. It is the view of the majority. It is not just about listening to the loud voices we sometimes hear.

I will speak about some of the issues that are important to the Green Party. Some of the measures we are passionate about are included in this plan. As I have said many times, the Green Party has long championed the Vienna model of cost-rental housing. This approach was placed on a statutory footing here for the first time under the Affordable Housing Act and the Land Development Agency Act and there are now national targets in place for it. The State plans to build 2,000 cost-rental units every year during the lifetime of this plan. That may not be as much as I would like but there will be a review midway through the lifetime of the plan. I believe the Minister will see that this proof of concept has been successful and we will see an increase in the number of cost-rental units. Cost rental is not only about the people who live in this housing. If we build at scale, the cost-rental model can calm the market overall.

Cost-rental housing has been incredibly popular so far, which gives reason to hope we may come to see it as a very successful proof of concept. On the Enniskerry Road cost-rental homes were recently completed by the Respond and Tuath approved housing bodies in conjunction with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The council invited members of the public to apply to rent two-bedroom apartments at prices that are 40% lower than average rents in the area. Within the first 24 hours, it received 500 applications. Couples with an annual combined income of €82,000 or less and single people with an annual income of €53,000 or less can avail of cost-rental homes at rents averaging €1,155 for a two-bed apartment. The model is extremely popular and we would like to see it expanded.

I am a member of the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community. It is important to mention that 50% of Travellers die before their 39th birthday. That is a shocking statistic. This country has failed Travellers and it has been called out on this issue for decades. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance expressed shock at the amount of money for Traveller accommodation returned over many years unspent by local authorities, including my local authority, Galway City Council. Last year was the first time the council drew down all the money for Traveller accommodation. We need to see more than that. There needs to be a stepping-up of ambition. We do not even know how many Traveller families there are. It has been recommended that people have the option of including their ethnicity on applications for social housing in order that we can see the true scale of what we are dealing with. The degree of racism against Travellers is probably under-reported.

One of the big successes in this plan and the reason many NGOs have come on board with it is the emphasis on the Housing First approach to ending homelessness. More than 8,000 people are in emergency accommodation, 2,000 of whom are children. This plan aims to end all of that by 2030. I believe we can do it. I also believe the Government truly wants to do that and that it prioritises housing.