Social housing high on agenda

An acceleration in the provision of social and affordable housing is expected to be a target of the trade unions during talks on the second phase of the new national agreement.

While the main item in the talks will be pay, the unions are expected to push for new assurances that the delivery of cheaper housing, promised as part of Sustaining Progress, will be delivered.

The affordability of housing is a key issue for many younger people and the unions saw commitments on providing social and affordable housing as a central part of the national agreement. Sustaining Progress promised to deliver 10,000 "affordable" homes and, while the programme is up and running, there is now an onus on local authorities to identify land to meet the targets.

As recently reported in The Irish Times, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution has concluded that the Government should immediately implement measures to give local authorities the power to purchase land at significantly less than its market value. They propose a figure of 25 per cent more than its value as agricultural land, even if it is currently zoned for residential development.

A draft of a report from the National Economic and Social Council, the body on which all the social partners are represented, also tackles the issue of land provision.

It says local authorities should be encouraged to take a more proactive approach in the sourcing and development of land for social and affordable housing. They should maintain land banks adequate for the future provision of such housing, the report recommends, including using compulsory purchase orders where appropriate.

The council's draft report on housing also recommends that land owned by other public bodies should not be disposed of without first considering its potential suitability for social or affordable housing. The overall approach is to encourage a substantial increase in the provision of housing in the Dublin area, including an increase in the density of developments and the creation of a new institutional agency to co-ordinate land use and transport in Dublin.