Guarded welcome for the Governments Actions Plan for Housing
Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has given a guarded welcome to the Governments Action Plan for Housing, but stressed that it needs quick implementation to deal with the crisis.
Deputy Stanley said “Minister Coveneys plan is an improvement on proposals from previous holders of that office, most of which failed to materialise, and includes some proposals that Sinn Féin has long called for. Unfortunately, it is not enough to deal with the scale of the housing crisis and for a rising population in counties like Kildare.
“The government claimed that there would be an additional investment of €2.2bn over 5 years. However when you examine the plan and crunch the figures it shows that the additional investment is only €1.54bn by 2021. This is inadequate and leaves a huge shortfall for those in need of housing in Kildare.
“The plan fails to meet the recommendation of the Dáil Housing Committee (which Sinn Féin initiated) to build 10,000 social housing units a year, recognising that 60,000 units are needed between now and 2021. Minister Coveney is only aiming for 47,000 over the 6 years. This is a significant 40% shortfall. The plan is over reliant on developers and the private market.
“Plans for the private rental sector are very poor with the ‘can merely being kicked down the road’ yet again. There are still no proposals for rent controls and the recent increase in rent supplement limits has not worked as many landlords have simply increased rents since its introduction. Constituents are still coming to my office complaining about soaring rents with some facing homelessness as result. The immediate introduction of rent controls is vital as the government’s plan is over-reliant on the private rented sector for the bulk of their housing units.
“There is no good news or relief for people in mortgage arrears. The government have completely backtracked on promises to establish a new court for mortgage cases. Instead these cases will continue to be dealt with within the existing court system. The privacy of these cases have been put into question and those in mortgage distress will continue to incur lengthy delays.”
“The government’s commitment to amend the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears has not only failed to materialise, but has been further reduced to “an assessment of existing sustainable solutions”.
Concluding Deputy Stanley said “The plan is too modest. The proposed increase of only €150m nationally by 2017 is too little and will fail to meet the urgency of the housing crisis. Sinn Féin will be pushing for the speedy implementation of all commitments.”
