Government defends its Housing for All plan despite Opposition saying it is failing

The Government has defended its Housing for All plan on the first anniversary of its publication with criticism from the Opposition, who say it is failing.

The multibillion euro plan was published after a delay last September, with the Department of the Taoiseach on Friday issuing an update stating that since the middle of last year over 54,000 new homes have either been built or commenced.

However, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin branded the plan a “failure”, calling on the Government to resign and for a general election to be called. He said his party’s housing plans would deliver more social and affordable homes more quickly than the Coalition’s scheme.

The plan commits to State investment of over €4 billion a year in housing, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in a statement on Friday. “Housing supply is increasing despite unprecedented challenges. Having a stable plan that can respond to these challenges is more important than ever, and I look forward to working with colleagues across Government to produce an updated action plan in the autumn.”

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The Government has trumpeted a range of affordable purchase initiatives, the roll out of cost rental models, and a fund to address viability challenges and activate housing supply in city centres called Croí Cónaithe as among the achievements so far.

Mr Ó Broin said that while planning permissions and commencements were up, many were for high-end homes and apartments rather than social and affordable homes. He also said the industry was predicting that commencements would trail off next year due to economic headwinds, most notably associated with cost inflation for raw materials.

Speaking at a Sinn Féin press call to mark the year anniversary, he said that house prices have gone up 20 per cent since Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien was appointed, and rents have risen 15 per cent.

Meanwhile, he said “an entire generation of people, particularly young people, (are) locked out of homeownership”, with the percentage of young people living at home having “skyrocketed” from 25 per cent to 41 per cent.

“The Minister’s housing plan is failing. We shouldn’t be surprised. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and the vested interests they represent created this crisis over many decades.”

He also criticised Mr O’Brien for not having yet commented on record homelessness figures released last week.

Dublin Fingal TD Mr O’Brien said that he had introduced three schemes to support home ownership – the First Home scheme, a local authority-provided affordable purchase scheme and a revised local authority home loan. “The latest First Home scheme figures show very encouraging interest in a scheme that will support thousands of first-time buyers over its lifetime.”

He said 500 full applications have been made so far.