Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
2. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider the creation of a State construction company to directly build both social and affordable housing and to accelerate the retrofitting of local authority housing stock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33204/23]
View answerI argue here that we need a State construction company. I think even the Minister of State would acknowledge that the delivery of social and affordable housing is less than the Government had hoped for. It has not met its own targets, and when you look at what has been built by the private sector, average prices in Dublin are now €498,000. In my area they are €610,000. If we are going to deliver housing that can address the housing crisis, we need the State to build large numbers of public and affordable housing on a not-for-profit basis. To my mind, that means we need a State construction company to do it.
The Government recently established the Land Development Agency, LDA, for the purpose of developing affordable and social housing on State lands. The LDA also works to procure housing units more broadly for cost rental and affordable purchase. The Housing Agency separately provides a range of housing functions and services, including assisting local authorities to deliver their housing programmes.
In this context, it is not clear that establishing another housing agency would see any increase in overall housing delivery, in particular when housing supply is increasing. I fundamentally disagree with the Deputy about the Government not delivering and the chain of supply not happening. It is happening at pace. Almost 30,000 homes were built in 2022. This significant uplift in supply has continued in 2023, with almost 31,000 completions in the year ending March 2023. This is the first time since 2009 that rolling 12-month completions have surpassed 30,000. The uptick in commencements in quarter 4 of 2022 has also continued into 2023. Almost 13,000 homes commenced construction between January and May this year, which is the most for this period since records began in 2014, and is an increase of 7% on the same period last year.
Housing for All is clearly having an impact, with more homes being built now than ever. I am optimistic we will meet our overall targets for new homes in 2023, and the recent substantial uplift can be sustained and built upon in coming years if we maintain our focus on existing actions under Housing for All. We are delivering, and we are delivering at pace across all housing types - cost rental, affordable and others, as well as the infrastructure needed to put them in. We certainly do not see a need to create a State construction company.
I hope we can move off the script now to have a real conversation. Of the 30,000 homes delivered, 7,000 of those were social housing, including approved housing bodies, AHBs. However, 73% of those were bought or leased. In other words, what the State is actually delivering on a not-for-profit basis is a tiny proportion. The councils only built 1,680 houses. Some 8,000 were build-to-rent, and the rest were big private developments. I have quoted the prices. If the majority of building is done by commercial entities, it is not affordable. The average price in the country is €308,000. That is a lot. In Dublin it is €498,000. In my area it is €610,000. Cherrywood is the biggest residential development in the country, and houses are on sale starting at €650,000 and upwards. That is not affordable.
There is nothing wrong with private housing construction. We have not just been funding the development of social housing. We fund the approved housing bodies to construct housing. There is a significant uptake in first-time mortgages, which is to be welcomed. It brings first-time buyers into the market, which is absolutely to be welcomed because those are housing solutions for those families. It is also critically important that we are putting funding in place for Uisce Éireann to front-load the infrastructure and allow construction. If the Deputy is talking about a State construction company, is it to only develop State solutions? We are developing and delivering right across the board. The commencements speak for themselves in terms of what is being delivered. What the Deputy is suggesting would be cumbersome and time consuming to try to deliver something the Government is already delivering under Housing for All.
More than 12,500 people are homeless. I am telling the Minister of State, and he can deny it all he likes, but for working people it is currently not affordable to rent or buy. It is just not affordable. I am dealing with a family, which I might address in another question. The father works in a semi-State company. He is on a decent salary. They are going to be homeless because they cannot afford to move anywhere else, and they are now apparently above the threshold for cost rental by €1,300. There is another woman working for Tusla with vulnerable children. She has been four years in emergency accommodation because she cannot find anywhere to rent or buy. The stuff being built by the private sector is not affordable. Even the social housing we are getting is being bought from the private sector in the form of Part Vs. It is, by and large, the same with the AHBs. Councils only built 1,689 social houses last year out of the total built. We need a State body to build social and affordable housing on a large scale, and which is actually affordable.
Again, I disagree with the Deputy-----
There is nothing to disagree with. It is a fact.
I disagree first of all about the necessity to set up a State construction company. We are delivering under Housing for All. For the first time in a generation, we are delivering affordable housing and cost rental, as well as funding the AHBs to deliver too. We are delivering right across all housing tenures. That is critically important and we will continue to do that. The problems with establishing a State construction company would be quite significant, notwithstanding the time it would take to establish in terms of legislation. It would also have to compete with private sector companies in an already constrained employment market. We certainly do not see the need for it, while we are delivering at pace for 2022, 2023 and throughout the course of Housing for All.
