Housing report: Decades of interventions have not solved 'systemic failures'
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Several decades of interventions in the housing sector have not solved "fundamentally systemic failures", the Housing Commission report has found.
The report also suggests a radical strategic reset of housing policy as the only solution which will work. The report, which has been submitted to Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien and seen by the , found these failures "must be addressed".
It says the Housing Commission found that the core issues are "ineffective decision-making and reactive policy-making where risk aversion dominates".
"These issues, together with external influences impacting housing dynamics, contribute to the volatility in supply, undermining affordability in the housing system".
The report says that inconsistency across the housing sector "undermines confidence" and that "as a consequence of policy failures Ireland in comparison with European partners has one of the highest levels of public expenditure on housing but one of the poorest outcomes".
The report adds that Ireland cannot use a "one-size-fits-all" approach toward housing and "must take account of strategy, delivery and management".
The analysis also shows that while specific details "can be complex the overall strategy to successfully achieve a sustainable housing system is not complicated".
Among its recommendations, the report calls for increased investment in training and qualifications in the housing sector, housing stock that is "responsive to the needs of the public", a "critical mass of social affordable and cost-rental housing to be added to the stock" and, greater centralisation and co-ordination of infrastructure.
It further calls for the establishment of a land price register in order to increase transparency around land transactions, further participation by the public in plan-making processes, and the delivery of enabling infrastructure in advance of housing construction.
The report estimates that there is an underlying undersupply of over a quarter of a million homes in Ireland, prompting Taoiseach Simon Harris to call for a "step change" in housing delivery. Speaking on his way into Cabinet, he said more ambition is needed.
"When my party first came to government in 2011, fewer than 7,000 homes were built that year but over 32,000 were built last year," he said.
"This is why we have extended the waiver on development levies, invested more in the first home scheme and asked the Housing Commission to come forward with more ideas," he added.
However, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson said he could not remember language as strong from an independent body. Eoin Ó Broin said the report is a “damning indictment” of the Government’s housing plan.
“They're accusing both this Government and its predecessors of failing to treat housing as a critical social and economic priority. And they also go on to say that housing has one of the highest levels of public expenditure, yet one of the poorest outcomes.
"Now, we know all of this, and we see this every day. Rents are rising, house prices are rising, homelessness is rising, and social, affordable and private to purchase homes aren't being delivered at the scale."
Speaking earlier at Leinster House, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett said the report pointed to the “catastrophic failure” of Government housing policy and it confirms “what the dogs on the street knew”.
“The Government's targets for housing are hopelessly inadequate, their ability to deliver is hopelessly inadequate, [and] the proportion of housing that is actually affordable to ordinary working people is totally inadequate,” he said.
Social Democrat housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said the report showed that the Government’s housing targets are “hopelessly out of date”.
“We’re calling on the Government to publish the Housing Commission report urgently,” he said. “And they shouldn’t be sitting on that until after the elections. And we’re calling on them to urgently update the housing targets.”