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Harris to consider Housing Commission report that calls for ‘radical’ policy reset – Home Page

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Cate McCurry, Pennsylvania

The Prime Minister said he would consider recommendations from a government-commissioned report that called for a “radical” reset of housing policy.

Simon Harris told the Dáil that the Government would publish a 400-page report this week following opposition calls for a debate on the findings.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien received the Housing Committee’s report on May 8.

The leaked report said the government’s housing policy needed a “radical” reset and called for the state to increase its housing supply.

Harris told the Dáil that the government had already taken a number of “radical steps” in the housing market, citing the creation of the Spatial Development Agency and reformed planning laws.

“This government is making progress on housing supply, this government is making progress on home ownership,” he said.

“This government is implementing plans, programs and incentives that help hundreds of couples buy their first home every week. All of you in your constituencies are witnessing the construction of new houses.

“But the government also knows that it’s not just about the here and now. We need to think about where we will be by 2050.”

He said the government would review housing targets once the 2022 census is published.

The revised targets, which will apply in the second half of the decade, will be defined later this year.

Harris admitted that housing production needs to be “significantly increased.”

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the report was a “damning indictment” of the government’s housing policy.

“The Housing Commission tells you directly that your housing plan is not working and states that only a radical strategic reset in housing policy will solve the problem,” she added.

“This means delivering housing that people can actually afford. This means taking over vulture funds, large owners and special interests that deepen the housing crisis.

“This means implementing the state’s largest-ever affordable public housing program so that young teachers, nurses, police officers and retail workers can afford a home. This is the urgent change we need in housing.”

Labor leader Ivana Bacik framed the housing crisis as this generation’s civil rights issue.

“Yet, week after week, all we hear from the government is self-congratulations and that your housing policies and plans are working,” the Dublin Bay South TD told the Dáil.

“Taoiseach, this is not reality and the Housing Commission has exposed the reality. They are not an opposition party. This is not an ideological body. They are created by the government.

“The committee members are trade union representatives, developers, scientists, experts who have nothing to gain from cheating daylilies or from personal prejudices, but it is clear that we have one of the highest levels of public investment in housing in Europe, but our results are among the worst.

“The report confirms what some of us have been saying for a long time – developer-led planning is not delivering the homes we need.

“Weak protection of tenants’ rights harms tenants and does not free up supply, and low construction targets, insufficiently ambitious targets harm the well-being of our society.”

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said he has not yet seen the leaked Housing Commission report.

“Where we think certain suggestions make sense and can help us go further and faster, we will definitely take them on board… not necessarily every idea,” he told RTÉ radio on Tuesday.

Asked about the amount the government was spending on housing compared to Ireland’s housing supply, he said there was a “lag” between increased spending and higher production.

“It’s not just a numbers game. It’s about quality and cost – we really need to make housing affordable.”