Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 36: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the lack of adequate provision for affordable housing for first-time home seekers over the past ten years with particular reference to the large numbers currently awaiting consideration on local authority housing lists for several years despite the housing boom; if he will examine the means whereby the current housing stock in the public and private sector is examined with a view to meeting the needs of housing applicants thereby eliminating the necessity to make ongoing annual provisions by way of rent subsidies in lieu of housing thereby obtaining a better result for housing applicants and the tax payer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24147/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

On 16 June 2011 I launched the Government's new housing policy statement which will serve as a framework for a series of legislative and policy initiatives in the short to medium term. Based on a number of fundamental principles and goals that will form the foundation of a substantial reform programme, the new framework for housing policy responds to current and emerging conditions in the housing sector, taking account of the dramatic cycle of rapid growth and sudden collapse in the residential property market. The centrepiece of the approach is to chart a way forward for housing policy in Ireland by placing greater emphasis on choice;· equity across housing tenures; and delivering quality outcomes for the resources invested.

The policy statement also announced the standing down of all affordable housing schemes, including shared ownership, in the context of a full review of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Affordable housing schemes were introduced to bridge the affordability gap that emerged during the boom years, preventing middle income households from realising their ownership aspirations. However, affordable housing did nothing to address the underlying problem – which is that the market was becoming overheated with an unsustainable gap being created between prices and incomes. Affordable housing was therefore a symptom of a market failure and not a solution to it.

In addition, affordability has eased to such an extent that there is little or no demand for affordable housing. Indeed, in recent years the challenge has been to deploy existing affordable stock productively rather than deliver new affordable housing. The possibility of localised affordability challenges in the future, particularly in areas where supply is short and demand is likely to bounce back relatively quickly is not ruled out. Such affordable housing schemes that may be necessary in the future will have a broader tenure focus than in the past.

The Government is committed to supporting access to home ownership for lower income households and a range of paths to home ownership will remain in place in that regard. These include the incremental purchase scheme, the availability of loan finance from local authorities for house purchase, including open market purchase, and the tenant purchase scheme.