Address by Simon Coveney, T.D.,
Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government
at the opening of the Third Annual Housing Policy Conference
9am on Wednesday 8 June 2016
at Trinity College
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I’m delighted to be with you this morning to open this Third Annual Housing Policy Conference, and I would like to thank the Dublin Economics Workshop and Trinity College’s Policy Institute for the opportunity to do so.
The theme of this Conference, ‘Homelessness and Social Housing: Policy Solutions for Ireland’, is an extremely timely one! While the theme specifies Social Housing, the Irish housing market is interwoven and, therefore, a holistic approach to housing is required at policy level. However, a particular focus is required on the lack of social housing as our supply lags a long way behind demand. Nowhere is this more manifest than in the stark rise in homelessness in recent years.
Housing is an absolute priority for this Government and I was appointed as Minister with specific responsibility for Housing, Planning and Local Government to focus intensively on the challenge of tackling the housing crisis. I have recently been joined by Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Damian English T.D., and we have been tasked with preparing an ‘Action Plan for Housing’ within the Government’s first 100 days, working with our Government colleagues and key stakeholders.
The plan will include actions to expedite and boost supply of all types of housing, including social housing, in the immediate, medium and longer-terms. While it is important to boost housing supply for everyone, the Action Plan will focus in particular on those feeling most difficulty in accessing the housing and rental market at the moment.
Minister English and I have initiated some early intensive engagement with people who have been working in the housing and homelessness areas for many years, to discuss the broad approach to the housing action plan and to develop a common understanding of the housing situation in our country at present. I am on record as saying that the position can only be described as an emergency situation in our key urban centres, particularly in Dublin and Cork.
It is impossible not to be really affected by the experiences of families and children in long-term emergency accommodation and it has really strengthened my resolve to deal with our housing challenges, a resolve absolutely shared by my colleagues in Government.
Once the economy collapsed, Ireland simply stopped building houses, private and social housing, for the best part of the last decade, apart from finishing out some schemes and one-off houses. This lack of supply of housing in the right locations is the critical factor underpinning the current crisis. Just over 12,600 housing units were completed last year, almost half of which were individual or “one off houses”. We need to be building somewhere in the region of 25,000 units per annum to meet the need and we need to ensure that these are in the right locations and of the right type to meet our evolving household formation and demographic patterns.
Furthermore, many of the active sites in the Dublin area are delivering housing at prices which are not affordable for the majority of first time buyers.
If ordinary people are spending more and more of their income on rents and mortgages, that leaves less for the many other demands of life and this affects the real economy and peoples’ quality of life. It also puts many working families in more precarious financial positions and at risk of homelessness.
Put simply the housing situation is affecting every sector of Irish society and putting at risk our hard-won gains in terms of employment, recovery of competitiveness and the attractiveness of Ireland as a place to live and work.
Many think that a total focus on public housing programmes will solve the situation. While I agree that we need to do more on the social housing side and quickly, I don’t think anyone in our country believes that only social housing needs to be built.
We must also focus on the other parts of housing, including doing all we can to keep people in the homes they have and ensuring that the rental and private housing construction markets function properly and deal with the backlog of a decade of undersupply so that people do not get squeezed into homelessness and social housing waiting lists.
What we are focusing on so far is how to:
· more quickly tackle the issue of those living in emergency accommodation by expanding and expediting solutions; The programme of rapid-delivery housing provision is being implemented to mitigate the acute issues associated with homelessness. It is my ambition to accelerate and expand the rapid delivery programme where possible and appropriate;
· accelerate the delivery of the social housing strategy; Under the Social Housing Strategy 2020, targets have been set for each local authority out to 2017. Importantly, local authorities and approved housing bodies have a strong pipeline of construction, turnkey and acquisition projects, which will deliver some 3,900 homes, with approved budget costs of some €680 million. Again, it is my ambition that the delivery of these homes will be accelerated and that the targets will be exceeded.
· Increase the overall output of private housing to meet the 25,000 which is acknowledged as the likely annual supply need; to achieve this we are examining any further potential barriers, in terms of serviced land, funding and financing and delivery mechanisms;
· ensure that most of the additional houses and apartments are affordable and meet the needs of all sectors of society, including students, older persons and the increasing proportion of 1-2 person households; and
· replace the boom-bust cycle of construction and housing supply through better management of the land supply and development process.
As experienced and qualified experts in the area of housing and homelessness, I don’t have to tell you that homelessness is a complex issue. Many rough sleepers have issues beyond a roof over their head, such as mental health and addiction issues which present challenges in achieving and maintaining tenancies. Also, the more recent phenomenon of homeless families and individuals have a myriad of issues which led them into homelessness. For some it’s about rent and problems their landlord might be experiencing, for others it’s because of relationship breakdown or overcrowding. My Department is working across Government Departments and Agencies to try to ensure that all the expert arms of the State, such as Health, Social Protection, Children & Youth Affairs, Justice and the Rental Tenancies Board are co-ordinated and focused in both the prevention of homelessness and the State’s response.
I see from the programme that you will be delving into many of the issues I’ve mentioned. I would like to thank your hosts again for asking me to speak and to thank you for your presence at what I said at the outset is a very timely Conference. I hope you enjoy the programme and this opportunity for shared learning.
Thanks you.