Less than 5 per cent of the homes completed in the first three months of this year were for local authority tenants, in spite of the fact that waiting lists exceeded 43,000. This is a fraction of the number of homes that private developers were originally expected to contribute to social and affordable housing under Part V of the Planning Act. But changes in the law, a shortage of professional staff and a get-out clause that allowed councils accept cash in lieu of houses have dashed the hopes of many low-income families of having their own homes.
The homeless agency, Focus Ireland, has drawn attention to the failure of local authorities and developers to meet targets for the provision of social and affordable housing under the altered provisions. And while the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) challenged the notion that its members avoided their responsibility to provide 20 per cent of most development sites for social and affordable housing by paying cash, the figures would suggest otherwise.
The scheme was originally designed to deliver cheap public housing to local authorities and to encourage social integration. But developers were worried that the value of their estates would be reduced if council tenants were present. Those wishing to purchase affordable units were looked at askance. Under pressure, the Government changed the scheme in 2002 and allowed builders to pay cash in lieu of expensive housing sites, or to provide sites elsewhere.
There is a housing boom under way. 81,000 homes were built last year. And in spite of the fact that the cost of housing has soared past the reach of a great many people, the vast majority of those were private units, for personal occupation or for rental. Local authorities built only 4,209 units. And they allocated two-thirds of the 1,400 homes provided by developers under Part V of the Act to those who could not afford to buy, but would not qualify for council accommodation.
It is a pathetic record. And it will have to alter dramatically if the growth in population predicted by the Economic and Social Research Institute for the next number of years is to be addressed. Focus Ireland has consistently championed the needs of social and affordable housing applicants. Its proposal that cash transfers should only be allowed to developers as a last resort, in order to maximise the number of homes becoming available, makes sense. In addition to that, however, the Government will have to complement the efforts being made under "Sustaining Progress" to build more affordable homes with an accelerated council house-building programme.