The Housing For All plan is either a “path to achieving the supply we need to cater for all our people”, or a “continuation of the failed policy of relying on the private market”.
Galway politicians have been sharply divided over the new Government plan which seeks to create 36,000 affordable purchase homes and eradicate homnelessness by 2020.
Fianna Fáil Galway East TD, and Minister of State at the Department of Children, Anne Rabbitte, said the public “will not be disappointed” by the plan and that “there really is something for everyone”. However, People Before Profit Galway representative, Adrian Curran, said it will “not deliver enough social housing to drastically cut housing waiting lists”, while Sinn Féin Galway West TD, Mairéad Farrell, said it “will not curtail skyrocketing housing prices in Galway”.
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According to a recent report from the IPAV, the average cost of a four bed semi-detached house is €330,000 in Galway city and €265,000 in the county. The cost of a two bed apartment is €220,000 in the city and €135,000 in the county. This represents a rise of nine per cent in just six months - a trend that is expected to continue.
Galway saw a 9.5 per cent increase in people accessing emergency homeless accommodation in the first three months of this year. Around 3,500 people are on the waiting list for council housing in Galway city, while the private rental market is proving increasingly unaffordable for many.
Aims of Housing For All
The Government’s new Housing For All plan contains the largest housing budget in the history of the State, with more than €15.5 billion in funding - provided through the Exchequer and controversial Land Development Agency - over the next five years.
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It is hoped that this will see 4,000 affordable purchase homes a year, on average, for families, couples and single people; a local authority-led Affordable Purchase Scheme, targeting average prices of €250,000; a ‘First Home’ shared equity scheme for private developments; reform of the Local Authority Home Loan; the introduction of an ‘Owner Occupier Guarantee’ in housing developments to secure homes exclusively for first-time buyers and other owner-occupiers; and the return of 20 per cent of all developments being set aside for affordable and social housing.
Housing For All will also seek to provide more than 90,000 social homes by 2030, including an average annual new build component of more than 9,500 units to 2026.
It also seeks to end long term leasing by local authorities and approved housing bodies; strengthen the ‘Mortgage to Rent’ scheme; reform of the Tenant Purchase Scheme; and reform of income eligibility for social housing.
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Regarding Renters, Housing For All aims to create c2,000 new cost rental homes every year, with rents targeted at least 25 per cent below market level.
It also plan to to extended the Rent Pressure Zones to 2024; introduce new short-term lettings regulation through a Fáilte Ireland registration system; strengthen security for renters; have minimum building energy rating standards for private rental dwellings; and see upfront deposit and rent payments capped at two months value.
The plan also sets an ambitious target of eradicating homelessness by 2030. To do this, it seeks to increase the ‘Housing First’ targets to 1,200 tenancies over five years for homeless people; establish a National Homeless Action Committee; expand street outreach teams for rough sleepers; and introduce individual healthcare plans.
‘No silver bullet’
Minister Rabbitte [pictured below] acknowledged that “everyone” in the State is “impacted” by the housing and accommodation crisis, and how it has resulted in a generation being priced out of the market; inordinately high rents; and homelessness.
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“Fixing the current housing crisis is complex, and there is no silver bullet,” she said, but she argued that Housing For All “sets us on a path” to ensuring supply meets demand, and that that supply is affordable.
“If you’re a first time buyer or someone looking for a fresh start, the ‘First Home’ Shared Equity Scheme, Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, and Local Authority Home Loan Scheme will help you to step onto the property ladder,” she said.
She said renters can look forward to seeing 18,000 cost rental homes over the lifetime of the plan, while those on lower incomes will be provided for through the “scaling up” of social housing, with 90,000 social homes to be provided between now and 2030.
Housing and profit seekers
However, PBP’s Adrian Curran [pictured below] said that while Housing For All may promise 10,000 new build social homes each year, these homes “will come mainly from private developers selling 20 per cent of new developments” to local authorities. “Once again, the number of new homes we get will be left to the market and those seeking profit,” he said.
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He also said the plan fails to commit to impose a rent freeze or establish a mechanism by which landlords could be obliged to reduce rents. He said the linking of Rent Pressure Zones to the rate of inflation, “ignores the fact that rents are already too high – and most economists predict a rise in inflation”.
Mr Curran also raised concerns about the affordable housing proposals relying on a shared equity scheme, citing Britain’s experience where such schemes lead to price increases.
PBP Galway said the Government should have instead used public land to build social and affordable housing; defined affordable as a realistic percentage of a person’s income, rather than as a small reduction from an overheated market; and set up a State-run construction company to build homes at a lower cost.
Still not enough affordable housing
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Dep Mairéád Farrell [pictured above] said there was nothing new contained within Housing For All, and that it was "more of the same failed Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy, which caused the housing crisis in the first place”.
Describing the plan as “a huge disappointment”, she said it’s workings would result in “little, if any, increase” in direct capital investment by the Government in social and affordable homes between now and 2025.
“This means rents and house prices will continue to rise, and supply will continue to lag behind demand,” she said. “There is nothing in this plan to tackle rising rents, however there is plenty for developers including the controversial shared equity loan scheme, which will inflate house prices further.
She also noted that the target of 33,000 new homes by 2025 includes just 10,000 social homes, 2,000 affordable purchase homes, and 2,000 cost rental homes. “This means that social and affordable housing delivery in 2022, 2023, and 2024 will be broadly what was in the pipeline before his plan was produced. In fact, the 90,000 new social homes promised by 2030 are 10,000 fewer that what was promised under Rebuilding Ireland and the National Development Plan.”
