Sinn Féin: Government's affordable housing plan too little, too late
New affordable housing plans announced by the Government will take up to three years to complete and are thousands of units short of what is needed to meet demands.
That's according to Sinn Féin which said the budget proposed for new affordable home schemes for across the country falls far short of the numbers needed to provide homes for desperate buyers.
Despite a fresh €84m commitment from Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to build 1,770 new affordable homes, buyers won't be able to move into the units for at least three years, the party said.
The plans involve 25 local authorities developing projects in counties such as Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford, Kildare and Galway.
The announcement is the second tranche of homes under Mr Murphy's serviced sites fund, which in total promises to facilitate the construction of 6,200 homes at a cost of €310m.
But Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin described the plan as too little and too late.
“Nobody will be in there until at least 2021," he said.
Mr Ó Broin said local authorities need to be empowered to build the homes quicker and with more funds. His party has proposed a €450m affordable housing plan that would also speed up delivery of projects.
“The government have sleepwalked into the affordable housing crisis. These will still have to go through planning and there is lots of bureaucracy around them (these projects), so it will be up to three years before anyone moves in.”
However, Mr Murphy says the new affordable units will help ease the housing crisis.
“We’ve seen recently that house prices have been cooling down, even falling in some parts of the country as supply increases. But for too many people home ownership still remains out of reach. Unless the government steps in to bridge the gap, young couples and workers may not be able to afford to buy their own home in our cities and large towns,” Mr Murphy said yesterday.
Elsewhere, Mr Ó Broin published legislation which he claimed would effectively ensure councils do not introduce so-called 'co-living' housing in areas.
The planning and development (excessive ministerial power repeal) bill 2019 would remove the ability of the housing minister of the day to intervene in local building plans.
A housing minister could only use such powers previously with Oireachtas approval. But this was changed under the previous Fine Gael-Labour coalition.
Mr Ó Broin said Mr Murphy had twice invoked this power, resulting in height and size limit changes in councils, particularly in Dublin. Co-living had also been introduced as a policy in Dublin after Mr Murphy's intervention, he also said.
“This has deliberately undermined the democratic process,” claimed Mr Ó Broin. “These legislative changes I am introducing would effectively ban co-living."
