Mr. Willie Penrose, T.D., Minister for Housing and Planning, today (9 June) called upon developers and financial institutions to take a more pro-active approach in working out long-term solutions for unfinished housing developments across the country.
The Minister made his call as he published the final report from the Advisory Group, entitled Resolving Ireland’s Unfinished Housing Developments and his Department’s own Action Response to the report and announced the first allocation of funding to remedy public safety issues on some of the most problematic unfinished housing developments.
The Minister expressed his concerns at feedback from many local authorities around the country that, as they grapple with unfinished developments, getting positive engagement from developers, site owners and financial institutions responsible for the loans on such developments was proving very difficult.
Accordingly, Minister Penrose called for “action now without delay”, saying the time for avoiding taking action was over. While the Minister did acknowledge the strong consensus among the members of the Advisory Group on what should be done, he urged the key stakeholders involved in stalled or troubled developments on the ground, including the developers and the banks “not to sit on the fence” but instead to continue to work together with local authorities and residents bearing in mind that the priority is to address immediate safety issues to improve the lives of those residents in the most problematic of the estates.
The Minister also acknowledged the pro-active co-operation of the National Asset Management Agency in working with his Department and local authorities to address various issues on developments, either in the control of NAMA or subject to loans held by NAMA.
The Minister added that, for his own part and the part of the Government, action was forthcoming with the first allocations of limited funding to redress critical public safety issues totaling almost €1.5m, Exchequer money that would have to be eventually repaid by developers and site owners. The Minister pointed out that this funding should ensure that urgent action is taken in relation to matters of public safety and critical issues that are seriously affecting residents in the most problematic of the unfinished developments across the country.
The Minister also added that he would be maintaining oversight of how actively developers and financial institutions were co-operating with local authorities in developing resolution plans for unfinished housing developments and what legislative, regulatory or other supports might be necessary, including direct engagement with the banking sector in co-operation with the relevant divisions of the Department of Finance.
The Report, together with an Executive Summary was prepared by the Advisory Group on Unfinished Housing Developments, chaired by Mr. John O’Connor of the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency including representatives of key stakeholders in central and local government, the banking and construction sectors and NAMA, residents and the professional architectural, planning and engineering institutes.
At the publication of the Final Report, the Chair highlighted that “the resolution of these developments requires the co-operation of all parties and the adoption of a pragmatic approach. We need to deal with the situation as it exists now. There is no point in waiting for the economy or market to change as these developments are deteriorating day by day. We need to get houses that are complete occupied as soon as possible. I would ask all involved to act responsibly and act now”.
The key findings of the Group’s Final Report build on the interim findings of the group published in February and present a detailed list of recommendations which can be broadly categorised under the following headings:
Driving a more co-ordinated and partnership approach between stakeholders;
Tackling public safety as an immediate priority;
Putting in place a stronger legislative and policy framework to incentivise real engagement by developers, site owners and funders in working with local authorities and residents in resolving unfinished housing developments; and
Building confidence in the housing sector.
Having considered the report and its recommendations closely, Minister Penrose also published his response regarding actions and measures required to be taken in respect of the Final Report’s conclusion, a summary of which are outlined below:
Establishment of a National Co-ordination Committee to oversee the implementation of action on unfinished developments and to monitor and drive progress, to be chaired by Minister Penrose;
Formal protocols for liaison between the various stakeholders; developers, financial institutions; residents; local authorities; approved housing bodies and the Department, should be put in place to facilitate the sharing of information. This should be included in the proposed Code of Practice on Unfinished Developments;
Resolution of public safety and other critical issues e.g. public lighting, drainage etc., that are having a serious impact on the living conditions and quality of life for residents of unfinished developments should be dealt with as a matter of urgency;
Prioritisation by local authorities of a number of developments to act as lead projects to demonstrate what can be achieved;
Implementation of the best practice Guidance Manual on Managing and Resolving Unfinished Housing Developments, which will be published later this month together with the Code of Practice (currently being finalised by the Department), which will set out ways of resolving unfinished developments.
Minister Penrose concluded, “I am setting up the National Co-ordination Committee to oversee and drive implementation of the recommendations in this report. I am going to chair the Group myself as I see it as a high priority and I intend to hold its first meeting in the next fortnight and publish a report on progress achieved within 12 months“.