Seanad debates

Wednesday, 20 October 2021

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Frances BlackFrances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here to speak in support of this Bill. I commend Senator Moynihan and her colleagues for their work on this important and pressing issue. The words "housing" and "crisis" are intimately intertwined in Ireland and often they appear inseparable, but they are not. We can do better on housing across the board and the Bill, as introduced by the Labour Party, will go some distance in alleviating some of the pressure in the housing market. There is little doubt the housing crisis we are experiencing is unprecedented. It is a crisis affecting people in every corner of the country and every part of Irish society, but we know it is disproportionately affecting those with fewer social, cultural and economic resources than are available to many others.

Housing is more than just a roof over one's head and it frustrates me that the conversation around housing is often reduced to that. Housing is a reflection of who we are and where we stand in society, but it also shapes who we are and where we stand. Education is more than what is taught in classrooms and lecture halls, especially further and higher education; it is a reflection of who we are and where we stand. Education provides an opportunity for us to discover the person we are and the kind of person we want to be. It provides an opportunity for us to build friendships and networks that can support us throughout our lives. It provides a ladder through which people can overcome the barriers placed in front of them by their social class and family circumstances.

I have been disappointed in recent weeks to hear stories from Irish colleges and universities about young people struggling to find affordable accommodation which is proximate to their place of study. We have heard stories of young people commuting from one end of the country to the other to attend their classes and lectures; stories of young people living in hostels and hotel rooms because they cannot afford to live anywhere else; and stories of young people not being able to pursue their dreams through education because they cannot afford to live away from home.

I live in a part of Dublin that has seen huge numbers of purpose-built student accommodation built in the past few years, alongside an influx of hotels and aparthotels. Very little, if any, residential accommodation has been built in recent times. The local community was sceptical about the nature of this development and all short-term accommodation that would see people passing through the community, as opposed to integrating into it.

Despite these concerns, much of the development was welcomed as being an investment in the local community. Students bring vitality and energy to an area and support local businesses. Much of the land had lain derelict for decades and any development was to be welcomed and, perhaps, the purpose-built student accommodation, PBSA, would relieve pressure on the private rental market and free up some of the housing stock for other renters in the area. However, as the accommodation was being built, one had to wonder for whom exactly it was being built. Advertising billboards for the student accommodation advertised cinema rooms, bowling alleys and roof gardens overlooking the city.

Then the prices were advertised, ranging from €250 to €350 per week. It became immediately apparent this accommodation was not developed with most students in mind. Instead, the accommodation was marketed at wealthy international students who many of our third level institutions have had to attract in recent years to plug gaps in funding. While this strategy may have been profitable pre-pandemic, the past 18 months or so saw the few students who occupied the accommodation leave, with many of the PBSAs lying vacant and inactive, just like the brownfield sites on which they had been built.

In 2015, the Higher Education Authority advised there was a deficit of 25,000 student beds in Ireland. The 2017 national student accommodation strategy was devised to tackle this problem and the construction of PBSAs was prioritised in local development plans.Developers licked their lips at the prospect of building lower standards of accommodation in smaller units, all the while gaining planning priority and yielding higher profits. Dublin now has around 9,000 or 10,000 PBSA rooms, most of them concentrated in Dublin 1, 7 and 8.

I am thankful we have legislators like Senator Moynihan and her colleagues in this House bringing attention to issues like this. This Bill, if enacted, could have an immediate effect on the student accommodation and housing crises. It is important we give it all our support and move it expeditiously through both Houses.

While the circular issued by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage ought to be welcomed, it does not prevent the future change of use of PBSAs to a sufficient extent. The Bill, as introduced by the Labour Party Senators, is important as a result, as it prevents the change of use of student accommodation for a period of 15 years post construction. This would be a strong piece of legislation and could change the trajectory of the housing crisis in Ireland, especially as it relates to students.

In choosing not to address the student housing crisis specifically, we are facilitating the creation of another barrier to entry to further education. This is very problematic as it makes education the reserve of the fortunate. Access to high quality education ought to be the birth right of everyone who grows up in Ireland, not just those who can afford to access it. We need to remove barriers, instead of erecting them. I call on colleagues in both Houses to support the Bill, which will go some distance in achieving this end.

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