Originally posted 13.14
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has warned reforms to the Planning Act are a “missed opportunity to develop a sustainable supply of social housing”, while Cluid Housing Association (CHA) has said the reforms have “the capacity to make a huge contribution to the delivery of social housing.”
The CIF claims the reforms will hinder construction at a critical time, making it more difficult for developers to get construction projects off the ground. CIF Director General Tom Parlon also warned that the direct tethering of social housing construction to rates of commercial construction was a dangerous one.
"The Part V revisions are tinkering with a system that is not working ... It has delivered little if any social housing because there has been very little house building taking place," Parlon said.
"The plan places the responsibility for social housing on the vagaries of house building activity. If little house building takes place in the future then it follows that little social housing will be provided. 10% of a small number is an even smaller number. This is a missed opportunity as the Government could have put in a much more progressive system which would not see social housing provision collapse if there are few new developments built,” Mr. Parlon said.
Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly TD, earlier today announced the reforms to the Planning Act, and in particular Part V of the Act.
Under the reforms a levy will be charged to developers with vacant sites or empty shops starting at 3% of the cost of the land, and rising.
However this will only apply in urban centres of greater than 3,000 population.
Major planning reforms have been announced by the government - which also include a requirement to provide up to 10% social housing in a development and removes the ability of builders to buy their way out of it.
The government says the proposals will ensure that the social housing units will be located "predominantly on the site of the original developments."
It adds that there will be an estimated addition of 4,000 social housing units by 2020.
This number is disputed by the CIF, with the predictions labelled "pie in the sky".
"As for the projections that this legislation will create 4,000 social housing units by 2020, that is pie in the sky. The only way you'll see that number created under this plan is if the Minister decides to build them himself.
"The drafting of this legislation could have done so much to encourage house building activity at a time when new houses are needed. Instead this plan will delay building, add to the cost of building and buying a house, add to the bureaucratic requirements, while making it more difficult to secure development loans. Basically all this Bill will achieve is making a bad system worse," Mr. Parlon said.
The reforms have been welcomed by Cluid Housing Association, with Head of Policy Simon Brooke saying: “It is widely agreed that Ireland needs to be building about 25,000 new homes per year. When this is achieved, Part V will deliver up to 2,500 new social rented dwellings, which will go a long way towards meeting social housing need.”
“At a time when there are 90,000 households on local authority housing waiting lists, of whom about 30,000 are in high housing need, the need for more social housing has never been greater,” Brooke added.
A report released today by Cork Simon Community revealed that homelessness in Cork is up 54 per cent in the first nine months of this year, with a chronic shortage of housing the main factor driving up the numbers sleeping rough.
The draft legislation also introduces a new 'use it or lose it' clause, which means builders must develop a site within a time frame or they will lose their planning permission.
Kelly said the vacant site levy will apply to both empty land and retail space and will likely be introduced early next year.
“There will be a 3% levy, which will be increased every year up until 6% is charged on the owners so it will stimulate them to actually develop the sites sell the site.
“It will stimulate them to actually develop the sites and the charge will be there until they sell the sites or do something with them ... we can’t have these sites lying dormant,” Kelly said.
“This will be a significant and highly socially progressive step forward for the planning process. If this policy had been in place since 2000, we estimate that there would be an additional 15,000 social housing units in Ireland today. Under these plans, we expect in the region of 4,000 additional social housing units built by 2020. This will have a hugely positive impact for the provision of social housing,” Kelly said.
Part V of the Planning Act was originally designed as a progressive policy when introduced over a decade ago. The reforms were intended to ensure up to 20 per cent of all new housing developments were social or affordable housing. The plan was to provide socially integrated areas, as is the practice in much of mainland Europe.
However, the reality was somewhat different, with builders able to avoid these responsibilities with monetary payments or by swapping land, rather than building social housing.
However, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Dessie Ellis has described the new regulations as "a sop to private developers which would do nothing to help the social housing crisis."
Deputy Ellis said: "Part V obliged property developers to commit 20% of their developments to social or affordable housing - they could also pay a contribution to the council to get out of this responsibility."
"It was far from perfect, having been weakened by Fianna Fáil, but cutting it further is counterproductive."
"The required reform was to increase the responsibilities of private developers, to force them to hand over properties they are not using and to put the power in the hands of the council as to how to manage Part V."
"Slashing the responsibility might encourage some developers to build a few more houses, but it will mean many more will only build half of what was required," he added.
