Minister for Housing James Browne hopes to usher through sweeping changes to Ireland’s planning laws in the coming weeks and months.
The approval of a revised National Planning Framework by Government last week, alongside the upcoming commencement of the new Planning and Development Act, as well as the rebranding of An Bord Pleanála to An Comisiún Pleanála are changes he is keen to sell.
You’re approaching three months in office now. Fianna Fáil set out the housing crisis as being the key issue that needs to be fixed by this Government. Where’s the urgency in fixing it?
There’s very real urgency. We’ve secured an additional three-quarters of a billion euros from Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. We’ve already got the National Planning Framework through Cabinet and we’ll have the Strategic Housing Activation Office set up in the coming weeks. We’ll have our new housing plan out during the summer and we are working through commencing the Planning and Development Act. We will continue to move as quickly as possible with some very real and some very big decisions over the next few weeks.
How will the revised National Planning Framework (NPF) help achieve the new housing targets?
It recognises we need 54,000 new homes per year out to 2040, and you can zone for 50 per cent on top of that per year, so it’ll be a significant increase of the amount of zonable land. That will send a signal to the market that there’s more land available and that the constraint on housing is going to ease. It will help the local authorities to be able to map out where they want homes to be. It will help Uisce Éireann and the ESB and EirGrid on where they should be pointing their infrastructure towards.
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When will the revised NPF be fully signed off and what happens then?
We hope to get it through both Houses of the Oireachtas by the end of April, or the first week of May. Then I will issue a Section 28 variation order to amend existing county development plans. I’ll assign local authorities a certain amount of land that they need to rezone for housing.
Which local authorities do you want to see reopen their county development plans?
I will be asking every local authority to reopen the development plans. Every local authority will have a need. Some will be greater than others. We know in certain parts of Ireland, in particular the east coast, we are running out of actual zoned land for people to build on.
Will local authorities be supported with extra staff to facilitate this?
Yes, we’re engaged with the local authorities. There are challenges with the planning departments in terms of staffing. Planners are now on the critical skills list, and we’ll be working to improve apprenticeships and training for planners so we get more planners coming through the system.
Does this put planning departments under a lot of pressure?
I know they’re being asked to do a lot, but it has to happen if we’re going to provide families with the homes they need. I think everybody has to act with that sense of urgency, because we have a real inflection point here, and if we don’t get this right over the next four to seven months, we’re going to be in serious, serious trouble.
What does getting it right in the next four to seven months look like for you?
There’s a lot of different pieces to the jigsaw, and we need to get them all done. Getting the National Planning Framework through Cabinet was really important, getting the county development plans opened up and signing off on the Strategic Housing Activation Office so everyone is working together.
Can you explain to a lay person what the Strategic Housing Activation Office is?
It’s a pragmatic office. It will identify lands that can provide homes for families, and then see what is the problem. Why is that not being activated? If it’s Uisce Éireann, they go to them, if it’s EirGrid, they go to them. If it’s a planning issue, let’s try sort it out. If it’s a policy area, it will come back to me and I’ll resolve that.
What can the people working in that office do to push the service providers, for example Uisce Éireann, to service land more quickly?
There will be somebody at a high level from Uisce Éireann seconded to work in the office to communicate priorities. If Uisce Éireann is not responding, they’ll have the support of myself and the support of the Taoiseach, so that everybody is working together.
Can you give me a name yet for who’s going to head the office?
No, we’ve identified a preferred person and are engaging with that person. I expect it to be resolved in the next couple of weeks.
What would you say to somebody who’s living in a box room with their parents and can’t afford to move out?
I understand their frustration. The answer is more supply and it is my job to get that supply moving. So many homes are being held up through judicial reviews, and the Planning Development Act is going to significantly curtail how challenges can be brought on planning. There will be significant additional funding. Already this year, I’ve got over €750 million and I’m going back for more. Today I am actually looking for more money for more social housing.
Do you have any plans to change the new restrictions put on the tenant-in-situ scheme?
The tenant-in-situ scheme was introduced on an emergency measure when the eviction ban was lifted to prevent people going into emergency homelessness, and it was to be a measure of last resort. It was becoming, in some areas, a quick-fix solution for almost any problem the local authority was having, and it was almost becoming a first solution, rather than a last resort. What I want is for people to be able to have social homes. So the way to solve the housing crisis is obviously private housing, affordable housing for local authorities, and to build social homes. There is only a certain amount of money out there.
A single mother of two children recently spoke to The Irish Times about how she is going to enter emergency homelessness, when she would have previously been eligible for the tenant-in-situ scheme. Now homes must be in Hap for at least two years to qualify. What you’re saying is little solace to her. Why not take away the two year rule?
That was a restriction that was put in to ensure there was balance to the tenant-in-situ scheme and that it was being used to maximise the amount of acquisitions that could be secured. The local authority has other measures there. They could give that family a social house. They have emergency HAP [Housing Assistance Payment] and other solutions that should be able to prevent that person from going into homelessness. We’re providing record funding for social housing builds. We need to see local authorities stepping up to the mark. Some are doing really well building an awful lot of social houses. Some are doing very, very little, and that’s a problem across the country. For those local authorities that are not delivering, I’ll be meeting those and challenging them.
