Speaking in the Dáil Deputy Andrew Doyle acknowledged and welcomed the Government’s recognition of the need to address a housing shortage in many parts of the country, the need for decisive action, not just homelessness, but housing supply for the many new families who aspire to having a home.
Deputy Doyle TD noted “It beggars belief that we should have a shortage of housing, a previous environment Minister went on the record to say, “Hopefully, we will build 80,000 houses this year(2007)”. “The problem, as I see it, is that developers were building properties poorly, in the wrong places and they were costing too much. Now more than ever it is vital to address these issues and to avoid another housing crisis.”
In 2010, that much maligned organisation, the Construction Industry Federation, conducted a survey which showed that Limerick city, followed by Wicklow, Kildare, Limerick county, Cork city and Waterford, had the least amount of reserve housing stock available outside Dublin, and it flagged there was going to be a problem. This fact went unnoticed while the letting market was depressed, now demand has seen a dramatic increase in rental property prices, leaving many new families struggling to source suitable, affordable housing in their native areas. This is most certainly the case in Wicklow, where there are simply not enough houses available.
In many ways we now have a complete lack of confidence in both the construction sector and a banking sector who appear to be unable or unwilling to provide funding for any significant level of development, compounded by a halt to all social housing provision by the State, so all of these factors need to be addressed. To that end the initiatives announced by the Minister are a welcome first step, much more needs to be done and without delay.
Even with the Government targeted construction initiatives to be announced in the coming weeks, they will take a year to 18 months to roll out any significant number of stock. Approximately 4,235 are on the housing list. To get even half of the housing for those people built in the next 12 to 18 months is virtually impossible. We have to concentrate on the short-term, the medium-term and the long-term.
This issue needs a multi-agency approach. The Minister of State has started in the right vein by creating the homelessness oversight group, but it will need other Departments involved, in particular the Departments of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Finance and Social Protection. There is a situation in Wicklow, which also affects other areas, where rent supplement have gone down in a situation of diminishing availability of housing stock, and where there is a natural prejudice against rent supplement clients because landlords can get more in the open market
According to Deputy Doyle “It is estimated that somewhere between €75 million and €80 million is spent each year on homelessness initiatives and supports between the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for a comparatively small cohort of people in the national context. It would seem a lot more sensible if we were to try to divert 10% of this money to provide long-term housing supports to get people out of homelessness and to move away from high-cost sheltered accommodation.
“The Minister of State is aware of the grave concerns I have had about a premises being currently operated by Dublin Simon has in Wicklow Town, where it seems there was no consultation with the local drugs task force and no proper tender process. Consultation with the local community is a basic requirement as is prior consultation with support agencies, in this case there was no engagement with the local drugs task force or HSE, the manner in which this project has imposed itself leaves a lot to be desired by way of transparency and communication with other involved parties.”
In conclusion Doyle adds “It is expected 5,000 new units will be built nationally in 2014. It is a small amount but it is a start and we need to ramp up as quickly as possible. The units need to be placed strategically. There are ghost estates without the same level of housing need while areas with the greatest need have no ghost estates or vacant stock. This is the key factor on which we need to focus as Wicklow is not a county with any tangible ghost estates”