Land Development Agency chief insists it will deliver social housing
Into To On Bill To Footing Agency Is Coleman Legislative File Be His Market' Not The 'flipping A John Put Picture Going The Said Sites
There is "no basis" for thinking the Land Development Agency will not deliver social housing, its chief executive has told an Oireachtas committee.
At the housing committee, John Coleman said the bill to put his agency on a legislative footing is not going to be "flipping sites into the market" and is "focused on making sure that social and affordable housing are delivered on State lands".
He told Fine Gael senator Mary Seery Kearney the agency has "around €2bn of firepower" with which to progress building.
Mr Coleman said social housing "features quite prominently" in the LDA's housing plan, which will be published soon.
Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, raised the LDA site at St Kevin's. He said the "affordable" price mooted for the site — €900 for a one-bedroom apartment — would not be considered affordable in his constituency, needing a net income of €36,000 to keep below a 30% ratio.
Mr Coleman said the question of affordability is "complex" and there is "no hard and fast rules" on what defines affordable.
He said the bill will give the agency "flexibility to deal with every situation, recognising that the priority is to deliver social and affordable housing where possible".
Separately, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien published the statistics around social housing delivery and need, with the figures showing that social housing missed its delivery target by 34% last year.
The Rebuilding Ireland figures had targeted 11,167 homes to be delivered through purchase, build, and leasing, but the final figure was 7,827.
Mr O'Brien said Covid-19 shutdowns had severely impacted the delivery of homes, particularly in the first half of the year.
"The second half of the year showed a strong rebound, with local authorities working with their delivery partners to deliver almost 7,000 new homes," Mr O'Brien said.
"I want to commend the local authorities, the Approved Housing Bodies, and the construction industry for putting in place effective protocols to mitigate against Covid, to allow for increased output over the final six months of the year.”
However, Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin said the figures show that it "wasn't just Covid".
He said the minister's claims that council housing waiting lists fell by 6,813 from June 2019 to November 2020 are misleading.
"During the same period covered in the Housing Needs Assessment, the number of households claiming the Housing Assistance Payment increased by 11,115," said Mr Ó Broin.
"This is a short-term support for social housing applicants while they are waiting for their council housing. However HAP recipients do not feature in the council waiting list figures.
‘This means that contrary to Minister O’Brien's claim, social housing need has actually increased by 4,302 households, a jump of 6%."