merrion street

Never again" was the commitment given this morning (16 June) by the Minister for Housing and Planning, as he referred to Ireland’s recent housing bubble. Minister Willie Penrose TD was speaking in Mullingar at the 2011 Housing Practitioner’s Conference at which he launched the Government’s radical new housing policy statement.

"The new policy statement will serve as a framework for a sequence of legislative and policy initiatives in the short to medium term. Based on a number of fundamental principles and goals that will form the foundation of a substantial reform programme, the new framework of housing policy responds to current and emerging conditions in the housing sector, taking account of the dramatic cycle of rapid growth and sudden collapse in the residential property market. The centrepiece of the approach is to chart a way forward for housing policy in Ireland by placing greater emphasis on: choice; equity across housing tenures; and delivering quality outcomes for the resources invested.

The statement also sets out the Government’s approach to: regulation of the wider housing market; maximising the delivery of social housing supports within the resources available; reform of the private rented sector; and delivery of housing supports for households with special needs.

Setting clear distance from the policies of the last decade that contributed to the housing bubble and played such a significant role in our economic downturn, Minister Penrose said that "the Government would aim to promote a more balanced view of the housing market and of housing generally. We recognise and welcome the fact that home ownership will continue to be the aspiration of the majority of households. But there are other households who either do not want or may not ever be in a position to own their home. We need to provide choice for such households. This choice will be on the basis of household circumstances and need. The development of a vibrant, viable private rented sector – as a real alternative – is essential".

In terms of social housing, the focus of the policy statement is meeting the housing needs of the maximum number of people from within the resources available. As part of this there will be an ongoing important role for the long term leasing initiative and the Rental Accommodation Scheme but the Minister also announced key new reforms and a number of proposals designed to increase the supply of permanent new social housing.

Among the key reforms will be the phased transfer of responsibility from rent supplement to local authority housing support for long term rent supplement recipients. Addressing this issue specifically, the Minister said that "the number of households who have been receiving rent supplement in the longer term is a shared concern of several Government colleagues. Rent supplement was designed as a short term income support; it was not intended to meet long term housing needs and using it to do so is not in the interest of the households receiving the support, the local authorities or the Exchequer. I am therefore announcing today the transfer of responsibility for meeting the housing needs of long term rent supplement recipients from the community welfare service to the housing authorities. Together with Minister Burton I have already established a working group to scope out the transfer. There are complexities and we need to make sure the transfer happens in the right way with issues like deduction of rental contributions at source being critical - but there is general agreement between all that the basic approach is a sound one".

Options outlined by the Minister for the delivery of permanent new social housing included options to purchase on lease agreements, a new build to lease programme and the use of loan finance by approved housing bodies to build or acquire units for use as social housing.

Closing his address to today’s conference Minister Penrose said that "the new housing policy framework provides an ambitious programme for all who work in the housing sector". He called on all stakeholders to now set about implementing it together.