I congratulate Respond for the development of St. John’s College. Delivering these 67 units was no small feat and I’m aware that Waterford City and County Council was very anxious to see this project progressed in the context of protecting the architectural heritage of the City.
The inclusion of up to 10 additional single units for special needs including homeless households on the ground floor was also a significant addition to the project.
Pictures by Patrick Browne.
Wednesday, 20th July
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Closing Statement by Minister of State Damien English
I want to thank everyone for your contributions today and yesterday on the new Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness – Rebuilding Ireland. Judging from the feedback here in the House, and from what I have seen and heard in the media and elsewhere, the Plan has been broadly welcomed. It is regarded as an ambitious and comprehensive starting point in the Government’s efforts and resolve to really deal with both housing and homelessness.
I must say that I have found the debate around housing and homelessness to be very well informed. I think members of this House, from all parties and none, have rightly prioritised these linked issues as the number one societal challenge facing the country. The setting up of the Special Oireachtas Committee, its sessions and its Report has helped to inform the debate.
Minister Coveney and I have also met with a very broad group of stakeholders in these areas. We hosted two very-well attended stakeholder forums, both of which generated constructive debate and feedback. This process has greatly added to our understanding of the housing system and how its difficulties are leading to homelessness for many people.
The housing system is a broad and inter-connected set of markets and sectors. Importantly, each sector and market impacts on a different group in society. In developing the Action Plan, Minister Coveney and I were acutely aware of the need to deal with each part of the housing system individually, but also to address the inter-connectivity and cross-dependencies as part of shaping the overall solution – to build more homes. In taking this approach, we have the dual objective of repairing the broad housing system, while at the same time providing real solutions for people.
For this reason, I was most pleased with the responses to the Plan that referenced the fact that, for the first time, Government was looking at housing in its entirety. That is really at the heart of this Plan. To really restore the housing system to a sustainable level, you need to deal with all the component parts. We looked under the bonnet of each sector and market of housing, and came up with key actions to help repair what is broken or what can be done more effectively in each.
It was through this analysis that we arrived at the five key Pillars:
Homelessness:
On homelessness, we have set a very clear target to have no families in hotels by mid- 2017, except in very limited circumstances. Long-term hotel accommodation for families is not acceptable and we will end it. The challenge here is to provide alternatives and trebling the Rapid Build programme to 1,500 homes is the key action.
In the meantime, we are going to ensure that services for families, and particularly children, in hotels and other emergency accommodation is far better including:
In examining the social failing that is homelessness, one point was made again and again – that prevention is far better than cure. We are therefore targeting families and individuals worried about, or at risk of, homelessness with a new awareness campaign. For the families and individuals in mortgage arrears, we are providing more and better services, including free expert legal and financial advice and supports.
Social Housing:
The link between a lack of sufficient social housing and homelessness is clear. The lack of social housing options is also putting pressure on the rental sector, with a third of renters now supported by the State. Again, the target here is very clear – 47,000 new social housing homes by 2021 at a cost of €5.35 billion. It’s worth clarifying these figures once and for all:
On the money side, the Social Housing Strategy 2020, published in November 2014, committed to the delivery of some 35,600 social housing units in the period 2015 to 2020, supported by investment of some €3.8 billion. The social housing element of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan proposes a significantly increased level of ambition, aiming for the delivery of 47,000 social housing units, through build, refurbishment, acquisitions and leasing, over the 2016 to 2021 period, supported by Exchequer investment of some €5.35 billion; a further €200 million is being provided for the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund.
The €5.35bn investment proposed for the social housing area over the 2016-2021 period comprises some €4.5 billion in capital funding and €844 million in support of programmes funded from current expenditure. In terms of capital funding, the €4.5 billion being provided, represents a very significant assignment of resources towards addressing housing needs.
In summary, Minister Coveney has secured €2.2 billion of the available €5 billion capital fiscal space over the 2017 to 2021 period, €2 billion of this funding is being assigned to support the delivery of the 47,000 social housing units as set out in the Action Plan; and €200 million is for the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) which will provide much-needed enabling infrastructure on key sites to open up lands for early development.
This reflects a very clear demonstration on the part of the Government of the high priority that it assigns to tackling, in a comprehensive manner, the range of interlinked housing issues outlined in the Action Plan.
In relation to the output numbers
Of the 47,000 units, over 26,000 units will be built exclusively for Social housing, 11,000 will be acquired from the market, a portion of which will be newly built units and approximately 10,000 units will be leased by LAs and AHBs.
Building More Homes:
When the housing market is working well, there is a good supply of a range of new and second-hand homes for purchase, which cater for the entire span of the market from starter homes upwards. At the moment, we are producing half the 25,000 houses a year we need. Similarly, due to this shortage of new homes, the second-hand market is half what would normally be seen. The key graph on output is on page 30 of the Plan. It shows output predictions with the various elements of the Plan implemented versus the “business as usual” without these measures. If we don’t act decisively, we predict a continued scraping along the bottom in terms of output, or making small increases as the market slowly recovers. All the while, pent-up demand and our growing population is flying ahead.
We must get production of housing for starter homes and trade-ups back on track. At the moment, the landscape facing potential first-time buyers and expanding families looking for a bigger home is really challenging. A significant amount of analysis has been undertaken on the housing market, and the Plan addresses three key elements:
In terms of land, the State has to be more active, at both central and local levels, in terms of deciding where our new houses are going to be. We also have to work to keep the cost of land down, as it will impact on the eventual sales price and the affordability of these homes. In the Plan, we are going to champion the best use of State lands for housing. We will take immediate action to boost supply, as well as taking the more strategic view under the new National Planning Framework.
However, contrary to some views expressed across the floor, we are not “giving away” publicly-owned lands to private developers to make exorbidant profits on – we are looking to extract the maximum value for the State in terms of securing social units at a reduced rate, tying in developers to provide a minimum percentage of homes at affordable prices, as well as balancing these mixed-tenure developments with other private housing.
We have very good data on local authority sites and we are going to work with them to help bring housing on stream quickly. And we’re also in discussions with other State agencies and entities about the potential of their lands, many of which are in prime locations that are already well serviced. This will also create opportunities for builders and land owners. This is an area where a key link with social housing exists. How do you create truly integrated communities? You plan and build them like that.
Using incentives such as the €200m infrastructure fund and the new affordable rental model, we are going to run competitions for the best new developments. These will be attractive places to live and at affordable prices and rents. Private, rental and social housing will be designed and built together. We are going to challenge local authorities, land owners and developers to be innovative and to deliver quality product, at affordable prices and at scale.
After land, construction, finance and taxation are the significant costs of delivering a house. We are dealing with part of these costs through the €200m Infrastructure Fund, which should help to reduce some of the up-front costs for builders and have a knock-on impact on the price levels they’ll be setting. The NTMA and ISIF will also prepare an offer for developers to facilitate on–site costs. This is separate but complementary to the €200m Infrastructure Fund. Again, given the cost reductions, housing at more affordable prices should be achievable.
We will also reduce costs by taking some time and risk out of the planning process. Housing development proposals of over 100 units will go straight to An Bord Pleanála for priority decision within the 18-week statutory period. This is not, like some have said, to silence or dismiss local views and input in considering these applications – indeed, all developments will need thorough pre-application consultations with the relevant local authority to understand how this proposal will fit within the wider strategic context of local plans, and individuals will of course be able to submit observations on any applications to the Board, just as they can do under strategic infrastructure planning applications.
We are very focussed on supply but realisable demand is a key component of the equation. In our extensive engagement with stakeholders, the ability of people to secure the funding to buy homes and the length of time this takes was raised again and again. Simply put, the increased uncertainty around buyers, particularly, first-time buyers, leads to house builders being more cautious in terms of the amount of product they build and sell at any time.
In order to incentivise supply of starter homes at scale, the Government will bring forward in Budget 2017 a Scheme to help first-time buyers. It will be back-dated to the announcement yesterday and therefore builders and buyers can factor it in now – there is no need or value in stalling plans to build or buy – decisions that people take today will be able to reap the benefits of these measures from the Plan launch date (19th July).
I’m personally very committed to growing jobs in construction and encouraging young people to get an education in construction skills and disciplines. We are going to work very closely with SOLAS to this end. There are great opportunities and we need to ensure that the system can adapt and accommodate the likely increased demands for these professions. I’d also be very hopeful that people that had to emigrate might be encouraged to come home, once we get building at scale again.
Rental Sector
As Minister Coveney said yesterday, there wasn’t time to develop a full rental strategy in this Plan, so it will follow later in the year. We will bring early actions through to ensure where sales of large-scale single developments take place, tenants will have the right to stay in their homes. We’ll also ensure that the resolution service is fair and balanced between tenants and landlords.
As I mentioned earlier, we are also going to deliver a new affordable rental scheme as an early action. The Scheme will help low-income families and individuals with rental costs and will also help boost supply. The use of affordable rental on multi-tenure sites will be encouraged as part of the bid process for the €200m Infrastructure Fund.
When we examined the rental market, the link to student demand for accommodation was raised. Where there is an unmet demand for student accommodation, it displaces into the rental market which is already creaking in places. We are targeting the production of an addition 7,000 student places by 2019, in partnership with the Department of Education and the Higher Education Institutes, and other stakeholders.
Vacant Housing:
Another consistent message we received from stakeholders was that the Plan needed to tackle vacant properties. These vacant properties are having a very negative effect in urban and rural locations around the country. This was one area where there was broad agreement that vacant properties, particularly, in our cities, towns and villages need to be tackled.
Again, we are going for a two-pronged approach of immediate action to boost housing supply and a longer-term strategic approach. In the short-term, we are going to provide the Housing Agency with €70 million in ring-fenced funding to initially buy 400 vacant distressed properties from bank and investment portfolios. The Agency will then sell on the properties to local authorities or approved housing bodies and use the funding to buy more homes. We are targeting the provision of 1,600 by 2020.
We are also introducing a new Repair and Leasing Initiative. This will allow local authorities to provide grant funding to property owners to bring vacant properties up to standard. The local authority can then lease the properties for social housing. The grant being offset against lease costs.
Importantly, a lot of the problem vacant units are not houses but commercial properties. To deal with these, we are going to look at the Planning Code to see if we can make turning these units into residential simpler and faster.
I have a particular interest in urban and village renewal, given my areas of responsibility. I will lead an Urban Renewal Working Group to bring forward plans to use housing and community schemes in a collaborative way to improve city, town and village centres. We’ll also work with colleagues in the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to co-ordinate their schemes with ours and to bring forward joint demonstration projects.
Conclusion
While the Plan was broadly welcomed, there was also a consistent message that implementation is the key. I agree with that, as does Minister Coveney. As we were developing the Plan, we had already started on implementation.
We are putting in place a new Housing Delivery Office. This Office will support and assist the excellent staff in my own Department who have been working tirelessly to put together this comprehensive Plan and who will be central in delivering the key aspects across all five Pillars. There is a huge challenge ahead for all of us and I want to make sure that we have the system and supports in place in my Department, in local authorities and in the various agencies and bodies to ensure that projects and programmes are delivered.
What people want to see most flowing from this Action Plan is increased delivery of housing on the ground. The Action Plan for Jobs is a very successful model where time-bound and clearly assigned actions were a key feature. The Actions in this Plan are equally time-bound and assigned. Progress will be reported in monthly and quarterly Reports on progress under each of the 80+ actions, as well as progress on the pathfinder projects to test and demonstrate the Action Plan’s effectiveness. The reports and key statistics on progress will be available on the dedicated website www.rebuildingireland.ie
Thank you.
Monday, 18th July 2016
The Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, local Meath West Fine Gael
T.D. Damien English has urged local Councils like Meath to utilise
funding from his Department to eliminated long term boarded up Council
houses by the end of this year and help relieve the housing crisis
locally and nationally.
“The sight of boarded up Council houses is one of the most frustrating
sights in almost every town and village in Meath and Ireland. It is
frustrating because there are so many people genuinely in need of a
home who cannot understand why the system moves so slowly. It is
frustrating as these vacant Council properties are also magnet for
vandalism and anti-social behaviour. This represents a huge policy
failure as these houses must then be made good again at significant
further cost to the taxpayer. This is something we want to change”
the Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal said.
Nationally 1,302 vacant social housing units (aka voids) are to be
returned to productive use by Local Authorities this year, at a cost
of up to €23,906,413 from Minister English’s Department. €691,000 will
be spent in Meath in 2016, allowing the retrofitting of 33 units.
Since the start of the programme 113 units in Meath were retrofitted
in 2014 and 2015 at a cost of €1,893,066.
“Whilst houses may be vacant for 4 to 5 weeks in the changeover of a
tenancy, houses should not lie unoccupied any longer than this as it
represents a waste of a crucial asset and potential home for an
individual or family in need. The longer it lies unoccupied it then
becomes a potential financial liability with vandalism and anti-social
behaviour. Indeed a quicker turnover between tenants would also be
desirable from Local Authorities. I urge Councils to make long term
vacant Council houses a thing of the past by using this national fund”
concluded Minister English.
ENDS
Monday, 18th July 2016
The preliminary data published from Census 2016, when backed up by the
full data over the coming year, must be the roadmap for the future
development of Co. Meath, that is the view of the Minister for Housing
and Urban Renewal and local Fine Gael T.D. for Meath West Damien
English.
“I welcome the news that Meath is the fastest growing County in
Ireland with 10,807 new residents, up 5.9%, compared to Dublin at 5.7%
and the rest of the country at 3.7%. This data vindicates the work of
Meath County Council and its Economic Forum in highlight Meath as a
destination of choice to live in, work in and invest in, and I
encourage them to redouble their efforts in the knowledge that Meath
has the right people and the right skills to become the leading County
in the greater Dublin region” stated Minister English.
“In the past I have successfully argued for Meath to get a greater and
fairer share of investment in schools, local roads, health and other key
public services. This new data sustains and deepens those arguments.
As we move to house and cater for an enhanced population we must do us
so in a sustainable and well planned way, that does not burden us with
problems for the future. I urge everyone with a stake in the future
of Meath, be it in business, our Local Authority, in the community and
voluntary sector or in any other part of life in Meath to take on
board the data of Census 2016 as it becomes available over the coming
year and use it as our road map for the future of our County”
concluded Minister English.
ENDS
Monday, 11th July 2016
Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal Damien English T.D. has
welcomed the fall in unemployment nationally from 9.4% in June 2015 to
7.8% in June 2016 gone by, but said that the Government, state
agencies and local County Councils/LEOs cannot pause for a moment
until we reach full employment.
“I welcome the news that unemployment continues to fall. Indeed it is
now halved since the Great Recession of 2008 struck our country with
all of its dreadful consequences for our people and society. The next
task is to see this figure being cut in half again with the reaching
of full employment” stated Minister English.
Minister English, who in his previous role in the Department of Jobs,
was a key driver of the Action Plan for Jobs process, along with the
Science Strategy and Skills Strategy, said that continued Research,
Development, Innovation and Education locally in Meath and nationally
were key to keeping job creation on track. Ireland’s business climate
and its tax rates must remain both competitive and attractive to
investors and to returning Irish people in a post Brexit environment
he said.
“All of the barriers big and small, locally and nationally, to
creating jobs must be identified, examined and removed. In the early
and mid 2000s we took the recovery for granted in this country and
squandered the boom, we cannot take our eye off the ball this time
until we reach full employment again” concluded Minister English.
Friday, 8th July 2016
Local Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal Damien English T.D. has
said that the allocation of €6,903,123.57 in LEADER funding will
support jobs, investment and rural life in Co. Meath.
“The announcement in Virginia today by Minister Heather Humphreys, who
has responsibility for regional and rural affairs, of almost €7m in
LEADER funding for Meath is great news. This grant will support jobs
and investment across the county.
“This funding for Meath comes in the first batch of funding agreements
under the LEADER Programme 2020.
“It is great that this funding agreement with the Meath local action
group, who manage the fund, has been signed so quickly. It means that
community groups and organisations across Meath can now apply to them
for funds for their local projects.
“The LEADER programme funds projects under a diverse range of themes
that include enterprise development, rural tourism, social inclusion
and the environment. The programme is co-financed by the European
Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. The previous LEADER programme
delivered almost 10,000 projects throughout rural Ireland. In addition
to supporting community-based projects, last year, LEADER funding
supported over 800 enterprises and 400 jobs.
“As a local T.D. and Minister I want to ensure that the fruits of our
recovering economy are used to support local communities in Meath. The
whole idea behind LEADER funding is to empower local groups on the
ground to prioritise where the money can be best spent. This will
ensure that the people who really need it can benefit.”
ENDS
Local Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal Damien English T.D. had
today welcomed the allocation of €9 million to assist local
authorities including Meath County Council in taking in charge 356
developments (accounting for over 17,000 households). In addition to
the €9 m allocation almost €4.5m of funding will be sourced by local
authorities through bonds and other sources.
A full table of the Meath estates that will benefit is enclosed with
this statement.
Minister English said:
“the dramatic boom and bust that our residential construction sector
experienced over the last 15 – 20 years has left a considerable issues
for households in developments that would previously have been taken
in charge in the normal way. There has been significant progress in
tackling these most acute cases, providing for the completion of the
majority of unfinished developments. Through the funding I am
providing to local authorities we can now map a path towards all
residential developments being taken in charge by local authorities.
Residents can be confident that the housing developments they live in
will be properly finished out and maintained into the future.
This work on taking in charge should also be seen in the context of
the Government’s forthcoming Action Plan for Housing and the funding
provided through local authorities to support the provision of new
infrastructure to support the development of high quality homes for
all. Meath County Council is playing its role in framing the new
Action Plan for Housing, with CEO Jackie Maguire attending the
national stakeholder event in the Mansion House in Dublin this week”
Minister English said.
The funding is being provided under Minister Simon Coveney and
Minister English’s new National Taking in Charge Initiative (NTICI) to
accelerate current applications within the taking in charge process
relating to around 1,500 developments.
The funding will also assist in developing new and more efficient
approaches to the taking in charge process. Prior to the construction
boom and subsequent crash, local authorities usually would either take
an estate in charge (including roads, footpaths, water services etc)
or could be requested by residents to do so once a residential estate
was complete. However, where work had not been completed to
satisfactory standards, there were sometimes delays in the taking in
charge (TIC) process as enforcement proceedings including the calling
in of bonds can be complex.
The initiative has been guided by the results of a survey of housing
developments not taken in charge that was carried out by the
Department in December 2015 (and available on the Department’s
website). This survey showed that at that point in time there were
5,655 completed housing developments nationally which were not taken
in charge by local authorities, 1,500 of which had applications for
TIC submitted to the relevant local authority.
Proposals under the NTICI from the local authorities were evaluated by
a Steering Group, composed of representatives from the Department,
Irish Water and the EPA, who considered the eligibility and selection
criteria under three measures namely:
• Measure 1: Housing Estates not containing Developer
Provided Water Services.
• Measure 2: Housing Estates served by Developer Provided
Infrastructure.
• Measure 3: Technical Assistance Funding.
Local Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal has welcomed the
Alzheimer Society of Ireland’s pre-Budget submission, the launch of
which he attended last week in Dublin at the request of Meath members
of the Society including Anne Marie Russell.
“I was highly impressed by the cases made by both medical
professionals, researchers, and those with practical experience of
caring for a loved one, as to the benefits of a home care approach for
as long as is possible” he said.
“The emphasis in the document towards greater home based care for
loved ones is something I think every Irish person values the most,
and aspires towards. There is a budgetary process to be gone through,
but I will be offering my support to the proposals from the Alzheimer
Society. I intend to work with my Meath and MInisterial colleague
Helen McEntee, who is responsible for Mental Health and Older People,
on this issue, over the summer months” Minister English stated.
ENDS
Monday, 4th July 2016
Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, and Meath West T.D.
Damien English will join Taoiseach Enda Kenny and members of the
Cabinet at the meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council at
Dublin Castle today, the first such meeting since the UK’s referendum
on Brexit.
Minister English is representing his Departmental colleague Simon Coveney T.D.
Minister English has signaled his support for the proposal of An
Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. over the weekend for the creation of an
all-island forum to deal with the fallout from the decision by British
voters to leave the European Union.
“The protection of our island’s economy, and the Common Travel Area we
enjoy with the UK will be issues high on the agenda at today’s
meeting, and should be a key part of the work of any all-island forum,
amongst other issues, into the future” Minister English said.
DAMIEN ENGLISH T.D. 