Dramatic action needed to accelerate growth in provision of social housing

Low-income individuals and people waiting for social housing on local authority lists are faced with few, if any, options, writes…

Low-income individuals and people waiting for social housing on local authority lists are faced with few, if any, options, writes Aideen Hayden

Housing is one of the greatest levellers in Irish society today with almost all sectors of the community struggling with housing affordability. With nearly half of all homeowners unable to buy their home if it was on the property market today, low-income individuals and families together with people waiting for social housing on local authority lists are now faced with few, if any options.

At Threshold, the national housing organisation, we have always put the right to housing at the top of our agenda. It is not lightly that we say the Government is facing a stark choice here; either return to the times when social housing was built by the State in quantities equivalent to the 1930s, or face a future where the physical polarisation of our society becomes even more extreme.

The "slum clearance" programmes undertaken by De Valera's early governments represented a dramatic response to a housing crisis. Between 1932 and 1942, local authorities built 49,000 units representing 60 per cent of total housing output. We need similar dramatic action to tackle widespread affordability problems and once again accelerate growth in the supply of social housing.

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While this plea for a radical improvement in social housing output may seem like a dramatic solution, there is no reason why the provision of social housing cannot be cross-subsidised by the State. This thinking is not new; for example, an amendment to the 2000 Planning and Development Act permits local authorities to require that up to 20 per cent of all significant private developments be social and affordable, thereby mixing private and public housing. This provision has not been used to its fullest effect.

Last year, social housing comprised only 9 per cent of the total housing output. This situation has to change.

The reality of the housing situation in Ireland today is that the number of people on local authority housing lists - 48,000 households - continues to grow at a rate which now seems insurmountable. As many as 85 per cent of those on the waiting list have incomes of under €15,000 and many others on low incomes are not even on the list.

As a result of the acute shortage of social housing, the private rented sector has actually become a form of social housing for those forced to play the waiting game on local authority housing lists and those caught between being unable to afford a home yet also ineligible for social housing.

The dramatic growth in the private rented sector in recent years highlights the role which this sector has unwittingly adopted. In the mid-1990s, the private rented sector accounted for 8 per cent of all households in the State. Rising dramatically to 12 per cent, the sector is now estimated to represent over 150,000 households.

As many as 60,000 households in this sector are dependent on the State rent supplement system. These families hold little hope that they will ever be able to own their own home given the current cost of housing and long local authority housing lists.

Trapped at the bottom of the housing market, these families have often been forced to accept the poorest standard of accommodation in the private rented sector. It is of major concern that many people living in rented accommodation paid for by the State are living in squalor. The passing of the Residential Tenancies Bill recently by both houses of the Oireachtas could go some way to address this and many other problems tenants have had to cope with in recent years.

If properly enforced, this long overdue legislation will improve the situation of families in this sector, but the fundamental problem remains. Rented accommodation has become a form of inadequate social housing for the most vulnerable. This problem must be solved.

While the Government has increased the number of affordable houses available, the people we meet at Threshold on a daily basis will probably never be able to afford one of these homes. Most are surviving on incomes that are well below what is needed to apply for the affordable housing schemes.

Even the most recent adjustment to the rent supplement scheme, whereby local authorities will have to provide housing for people after 18 months on the scheme is premature unless more social housing is made immediately available.

To date, the Government has shown no real commitment to increasing the number of houses for the tens of thousands of people caught in this trap. Instead, the Government hides behind expert commentary which stresses that the market is growing, that new housing generation is reaching record levels, and that supply is meeting demand. While production can continue at this high level, unless there is a radical investment in social housing, the situation for people on low incomes will not change.

The sheer speed at which house prices have risen has placed people in vulnerable situations with few, if any, options. The statistics speak for themselves; the price of new and used cars has gone up 13 per cent since 1994 and consumer prices have risen generally by 32 per cent. By comparison, the average price of new Irish houses sold in 2003 was 209 per cent above the 1994 price.

The Government needs to immediately develop a comprehensive and integrated housing policy which prioritises the right of individuals and families to afford decent accommodation. The Government must at least, double the number of social housing completions by local authorities.

Political action is needed to ensure an environment is created for renewable and sustainable communities. If not, we face a situation where entire communities may be uprooted and moved long distances from where they have grown up.

The home is the centre of every family and in turn, homes create communities. Let's not lose sight of this. With the right political will, the current housing crisis could be avoided.

Aideen Hayden is chairperson of Threshold the national housing organisation.