Sinn Féin is drawing the battle lines for the General Election with the launch of its new five-year plan to address the housing crisis, Shane Coleman has said.
The plan, launched this morning by Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, promises that the party would invest up to €39 billion in social and affordable housing over five years if elected.
Entitled ‘A Home of your Own’, the plan aims to deliver 300,000 homes over its lifetime.
The party is describing it as a radical alternative to the Government’s current housing strategy, insisting it will bring home ownership back into the reach of working people.
The plan also aims to fast-track the planning process – giving greater autonomy to local authorities when it comes to the delivery of housing.
It would also establish a new publicly-owned State construction firm for the four Dublin councils.
The party is also calling for the Help to Buy and First Home schemes to be scrapped and for the Land Development Agency to be transformed into a new body with more power to acquire zoned land.
Sinn Féin has launched our plan to make housing affordable and to bring homeownership back into reach for working people - https://t.co/2I5kqMynSM
'A Home Of Your Own' is a comprehensive costed plan, the scale and ambition of which has never been set out by any other party. pic.twitter.com/CIP7zNc3IL
— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) September 2, 2024
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, presenter Shane Coleman said the plan ensures that there will be a ‘clear differential’ between the Government and Sinn Féin in terms of housing when voters take to the polls in the coming months.
“You have, on the one side, the Government saying we will help you buy a house - and this is at its simplest and it is a little simplistic - with Help to Buy and the First Home scheme and on the other, you have Sinn Féin saying we will get you an affordable house,” he said.
“So, it is a very clear difference.
“Which will the electorate go for? There are big merits to what Sinn Féin are proposing but I wonder electorally, will the Government saying we want you to buy a home [be more effective]?
“I think Sinn Féin is taking a gamble and taking something of a risk in relation to this because we are very wedded to home ownership.”
Tomorrow we will launch A Home of Your Own, Sinn Féin’s alternative housing plan.
It’s comprehensive, detailed & fully costed.
It’s focus is on delivering affordable homes & bringing home ownership back into reach of working people.
And it’s ready to go from day 1 in Govt! pic.twitter.com/wYa3AeobfG
— Eoin Ó Broin (@EOBroin) September 1, 2024
He said many people will still own their homes under Sinn Féin’s plan – although when it comes to affordable housing, the local authority may own the land it is built on.
“The land will be a leasehold, I suspect, with a lot of the affordable housing,” he said.
“That's not a massive deal; I had a leasehold myself on my house for many years but you will see the Government attacking this on the basis that, ‘We will get you your own home and this isn't your own home’.
“Sinn Féin will reject that of course, but we have a clear point of difference and I suspect the battle lines for the General Election are being drawn here.”
Sinn Féin
Fellow presenter Ciara Kelly said she welcomes the different approaches to the housing crisis.
“It’s good for democracy if we have alternatives to vote for it and you can therefore choose between two actual differences,” she said.
“I think that's a good thing.
“If Sinn Féin's plan is potentially something that could, you know, increase housing supply and be a good thing, I welcome that too because God knows, we need to do something.”
Housing
Ciara said Sinn Féin is “desperate to lay claim to being the solution to the housing crisis”.
“They were doing quite well in polls and in opposition when they were doing well at that,” she said.
“They have done quite poorly in polls recently because of a lot of issues, including migration.
“So there's a lot of politics at play here.
“As I say, I think it feels a bit like an auction between the Government and the opposition about who can do what – but I would welcome having alternatives to vote for.
"I would welcome anybody really doing something that would move mountains in terms of delivering housing.”
Sinn Féin’s new A Home of Your Own plan is available here.
