New housing measures announced by the Government “see Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil continue to tinker around the edges” of the housing emergency, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said.
Ms McDonald said the Government’s “big idea” was to “hand private developers €1 billion of public money with absolutely no detail, back of the envelope, threadbare stuff”.
The Dublin Central TD was speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil on Tuesday, after the Cabinet signed off on a range of additional measures under the Housing for All Plan.
Among the proposals are the scrapping of development levies to stimulate more building activity, higher grants to bring more vacant property back into use and expedited work under the cost rental scheme.
The proposals commit to reducing the cost of construction by scrapping the development levies required to connect new homes with roads, water and other services, and subsidising development levies, saving up to the value of €12,650 per home on average.
In addition, they commit to increasing the pace at which vacant and derelict properties are renovated for new housing by increasing the grants to cut the cost of restoring empty homes and making it easier to apply.
Ms McDonald said the Government’s “over reliance on the private sector” to build homes was “not the answer”.
“The answer to the housing crisis, the game changing answer, is for the State to intervene directly to build thousands of homes on public land,” she said.
The Sinn Féin leader spoke of a mother of two and retail worker, Jasmine Graham, who she has been dealing with.
“The family had been evicted and they now share one small bedroom in a B&B,” Ms McDonald said.
“She searched desperately for an alternative place to live but to no avail. In fact, the council asked her if she had a car to sleep in.
“Jasmine’s youngest child is four and a half and has been waiting three years for a diagnosis for autism. He finds it really hard to cope in a cramped space and her other son, who is nine, is suffering stomach pains from anxiety.
“Jasmine says it’s hard for her, but she says it’s especially hard for the boys. She tries to stay strong for them. ‘I have no other choice’, she says.”
Ms McDonald also said the Housing for All plan was more popularly known as “Housing for no one”.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said the package of measures represented the “latest in a series of desperate efforts to kick some life” into the Government’s housing policy.
“It’s yet another attempt to tweak the Housing for All policy, which you have to accept is failing,” she told the Taoiseach.
The Dublin Bay South TD said Mr Varadkar had previously accused her party of lacking confidence but that a fifth Fine Gael TD [Michael Creed] had announced he was “jumping ship” on Tuesday in that he would not contest the next general election.
“It looks like there’s a lack of confidence on your side of the House and certainly a lack of confidence in the capacity of your Government to deliver on housing, because we see no ambition, no sense of urgency and no results to date,” she said.
In response, Mr Varadkar said there were now around 400 first time buyers buying their first home every week, which was the highest figure since the Celtic Tiger period.
The Fine Gael leader said there would be more than 29,000 new homes built this year which didn’t include student accommodation and derelict homes being brought into use.
He said housing commencements were “bouncing back” following a slowdown last year. Mr Varadkar also said the State was experiencing a “very deep” housing crisis and that public and private housing had to be maximised.
“It’s not an either or,” he said.
