Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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740. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the actions he will take to deal with the housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5399/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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A shortage of supply is at the heart of the challenges in housing and the construction sector is currently not building enough residential units to meet demand in a country with a growing population and economy. Where the estimated requirement is 25,000 new units per annum the construction sector is currently delivering around half that. The supply issue is putting upward pressure on rents which in turn is pushing vulnerable persons into emergency accommodation.

A number of important measures have been taken already aimed at improving housing viability and increasing supply, through the actions set out in Construction 2020 and the Social HousingStrategy 2020. While I am satisfied that a solid foundation has been laid to ensure that the problems in housing can be overcome it will take an on-going and increased commitment from all stakeholders to deal with the issues comprehensively .

In order to stimulate the extra supply of houses, in line with the Government’s Construction 2020 Strategy, which is available at ,a number of important measures have already been taken. The measures are aimed at improving housing delivery viability and increasing supply. The measures include:

- the introduction of a vacant site levy;

- reductions in development contributions and a targeted development contribution rebate scheme in Dublin and Cork to encourage large scale developments at affordable prices;

- revised Part V provisions;

- initiatives to improve financing;

- implementation of new apartment guidelines; and

- legislative amendments to introduce greater flexibility and streamlining to the Strategic Development Zone provisions of the Planning and Development Acts.

It is estimated that the measures taken to reduce input costs have decreased the cost of building new residential units by between €20,000 and €40,000, depending on whether apartments or houses are being constructed. The measures should make more housing developments viable at more affordable prices.

In addition, NAMA is aiming to deliver 20,000 residential units before the end of 2020, with 90% of these units to be in the greater Dublin area.

With regard to the supply of social housing, the Social Housing Strategy 2020 includes targets and actions to increase the supply of social housing by 110,000 additional units, with 35,000 new units to be delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies and 75,000 households to be supported mainly through the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme.

The Social Housing Strategy 2020can be found on my Department’s website at the following link:

The Social Housing Strategy is being supported through the sanctioning of more than 450 new housing staff for local authorities and the provision of €4 billion in funding. The funding of €1.7 billion already provided for under Budgets 2015 and 2016 supported the delivery of 13,000 social housing units in 2015 and is supporting the achievement of an ambitious target of 17,000 in 2016. The 2015 output represents an increase of 86% on the circa 7,000 units delivered in 2014.

The report, Social Housing Output in 2015, which I published on 26 January 2016, is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

With regard to protecting those renting privately we have significantly strengthened the rights of tenants through the changes introduced under the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015, enacted last December.

The Rapid Build Housing Programme will provide solutions, in the shortest possible timeframe, to support families who find themselves in emergency accommodation. The houses in question are high quality, A-rated homes, which, if delivered on a sufficient scale, offer real hope for people in the immediate term.

While a lot has been achieved, it is clear that further sustained effort is required. To ensure that supply increases on the scale required, all key stakeholders will need to work together to continue to deliver on the two strategies referred to above and to deal with issues such as input costs, investment in key facilitating infrastructure, further legal protections for those renting privately and land prices.

In relation to legal protections for those renting and land prices, in particular, in my view there may need to be a further debate on the relevant provisions of the Constitution to examine whether we have the right balance between the protected and legitimate rights of individuals, as property owners, and the wider needs of society, including housing needs.