Simon Coveney: Looking at all means of getting more houses

Let’s be honest, the housing sector has been on life support for a number of years and there was little or no money for local authorities to build social housing.

Many years of pro-cyclical policies contributed to the crash that caused a decade of inactivity, and it will take a number of years of the correct ones to put things right.

The ESRI has calculated that for a country of our population and size, we need to deliver 25,000 homes or more every year, to meet the needs of our people, whether for rental or purchase, social or private housing.

We are a long way off that level of home starts, but the most recent statistics are positive and indicate that at last we are moving in the right direction.

The most recent monthly activity report indicates 15,256 homes were provided last year and commencement notices in the year up to the end of January 2017 show an increase of 44% year on year.

My target is to get to 25,000 new homes per year and go beyond that as quickly as possible.

One of the central elements of ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ involves an unprecedented commitment of €5.35 billion for social housing. We are determined to help individuals and families that are homeless and those on social housing waiting lists.

The most recent figures show that there are 91,600 households on the lists.

Local authorities and approved housing bodies have been tasked to build, buy, rent and lease social housing properties across the country. This means a dramatic ramping up of capacity to deliver on social housing projects. And it’s starting to work.

Last year 18,300 social housing solutions were put in place and this year that figure will be over 21,000 and we will spend €1.3bn making it so.

In terms of social housing construction, 650 homes were built last year, 1,800 are under construction on sites around the country and 8,430 are at various stages in the pipeline of delivery.

We must be innovative in our approach and that is why, along with the massive additional commitment to social housing, we are looking at any and all means of getting more houses to use for families that need them.

I have introduced a series of new schemes worth hundreds of millions of euro in order to get thousands of vacant houses back into use for social housing — the Repair and Leasing Scheme will see some 3,500 homes returned to use at a cost of €140 million.

Last year, we spent €200m buying back houses for social housing.

We need to achieve maximum delivery on some large strategic sites that have been in a state of suspended animation because critical infrastructure is missing.

That’s why we brought in a €200m housing infrastructure fund to unlock these sites. I will be shortly announcing funding for roads, bridges and amenity infrastructure that will facilitate the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes across the country.

I have been Minister for Housing for less than a year but in that time significant progress has been made, we have launched a comprehensive plan which is well funded and making steady progress, housing activity is increasing and the outlook is positive.

Responding to and solving our housing issues is the Government’s number one priority and I intend to keep driving that agenda forward.

Simon Coveney is Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government