Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It was suggested that we did not address the Housing Commission report. I think all three of us did in detail. However, I will conclude by addressing it again. The Housing Commission report is a damning indictment of the Government’s housing plan. The report talks about how systemic failures, ineffective decision-making, reactive policy-making and risk aversion were all impacting supply and that they were all undermining affordability. The report accuses the Government of a failure to treat housing as a critical social and economic priority. It also commented that despite having one of the highest levels of public expenditure for housing, we have one of the poorest outcomes. As Senator Gavan mentioned, at the centre of the commission’s report is a concern that the Government has ignored what it terms as the housing deficit, that is, the unmet need that has built up over the last decade. While the issue of the deficit has been well known for years, the Housing Commission suggested that it would be as high as 256,000 additional homes above the Government’s targets. The commission has also called for social and affordable housing delivery to increase to 20% of all housing stock. That would require at least half of all new homes to be affordable and social.

I feel, as happened here again tonight, that the Government talks about housing as some sort of natural disaster but the housing deficit is caused by a market failure and Government inaction. The fact that a Government-appointed body of experts has levelled such damning criticism at the Government’s housing policy is further evidence that its housing plan is not working. We need a change in the course of action and only a Sinn Féin government with a housing plan focused on the delivery of tens of thousands of affordable homes for working people can deliver the reset of the housing policy that the commission is calling for. It was said that all these recommendations are in train. I think the train has yet to leave the station.