Invest in future of communities

Recently, it emerged that legal proceedings are being brought to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of Irish tenants drawn from around 130,000 low income households.

The claim is on the basis that the continued toleration, on the part of local authorities, of poor quality housing constituted a breach of the tenants’ human rights.

At the same time, increasing numbers of people can be spotted sleeping rough on the streets of our cities.

Since 2008, the State has had to rein back heavily on all forms of investment and the public housing programme has suffered to a disproportionate extent. According to the Irish Council for Social Housing, capital expenditure on social housing has fallen from around €1.3bn a year in 2008 to around €275m today.

Even during the boom period, investment in social housing accounted for less than 10% of total residential building activity. At the same time, the record when it comes to repair and maintenance of the existing public housing stock has been poor — in part because barely three quarters of ongoing expenditure is covered by ongoing rent receipts and other payments. Local authority rents tend to rise or fall in line with tenants’ incomes — these have been headed in only one direction since 2007.

While larger local authorities have continued to overhaul estates, many have slipped into decline. There is a sense that our local authorities, with honourable exceptions, simply do not have a grip on the situation and that it is time to overhaul the strategy for the provision of social housing.

In recent years, some experts have started to question whether the Government should be in the business of providing social housing. The failure to provide adequate numbers of homes has resulted in the State having to shell out in the form of rent supplements and funding for bed and breakfast accommodation.

Mike Allen, the director of Focus Ireland, has estimated that around 70,000 low income households are living in private rented accommodation, drawing rent supplement. It is no secret that rents are rising fast and that the amount covered by rent supplement — cut back for budgetary reasons — is shrinking.

Focus Ireland is calling for a review, so as to prevent a surge in the number of families becoming homeless. Mr Allen has called for a €500m investment in the provision of 3,000 homes.

This seems a sensible idea, provided the money can be found. Forcing people to raise children in the cramped surrounds of a B&B or cheap hotel, simply stores up trouble for the future.

There are now 90,000 on the housing waiting list — only the highest priority cases can be dealt with as things stand.

There are real grounds for concern as to whether this half billion euro will be spent well by the powers that be.

In the past, huge amounts were committed to public housing projects which, over time, simply did not work out. Certainly, disillusion set in and, as a result, the retreat of the State from housing provision since the 1970s has been dramatic, and one that has occurred across Europe.

After the Second World War, slum clearance was given priority and the result was the construction of public housing on a large scale, frequently high rise. By the late 1960s, many of the schemes were in trouble and the first demolitions of high rise flat blocks began. Public housing had earned itself a bad name.

Governments decided that great infrastructure projects should be accorded precedence over public housing schemes. In Ireland, motorway and rail projects took first place in the queue. The State increasingly relied on the private sector to provide housing. We all know what happened next. Too much of the provision is in the wrong place.

The Ballymun regeneration scheme was one exception to the rule. It has certainly delivered quality housing, but at a cost way in excess of its original budget.

The Fatima Mansions/Herberton project, a rebuild under a public private partnership, was also completed before the Crash, but since then, PPPs involving the local authority and developers have ceased to be a viable option.

In Britain, important experiments in social housing provision have been underway for some time now. They bear close examination. The ‘not for profit’ Glasgow Housing Association is one of the largest social landlords in the UK. It was created in 2003 by the Scottish Executive. It is responsible for more than 50,000 tenants across Glasgow, having taken over the running of these homes from the local authority.

Since 2003, it has spent around £1bn modernising this housing stock. A network of local offices run by tenant-led committees has been established. The GHA board is made up of tenants, independent members and councillors. New area committees have been set up to give tenants more of a say in matters.

Dr Michelle Norris, lecturer in social policy at UCD, has written extensively on the subject. She has called for a funding model that is affordable and sustainable during periods of pressure on the public finances, arguing that schemes could be funded through borrowing from non-government sources, so as to keep it off the State’s balance sheet.

While in favour of provision by non-profit companies, she believes that providers must be independently regulated. Social landlords need to be given financial and management skills. Local authorities would act as ‘arm’s length providers’, partnering with housing associations.

She has called for a national policy on the regeneration of existing estates and stresses that reviving such estates is not just about investing in bricks and mortar.

Recently, she presented details of research into seven estates studied over a period of 15 years, including Moyross in Limerick, Fatima Mansions, and Fettercairn in Tallaght. Deanrock estate in Togher, Cork, emerged as a star performer among the estates surveyed, despite the fact that it was a system-built estate from the late 1960s which had not received huge investment.

Deanrock emerged as the most liveable of the seven estates with a four-year waiting list for tenancies. Key factors included a strong sense of community, proximity to good schools and a good mix of tenants.

Ms Norris and her team stress that estates cannot be sustainably regenerated until issues such as antisocial behaviour are tackled and local jobs are provided. Pouring investment into bricks and mortar, however welcome in the short-term, will not suffice in its own.

What is clear is that investment in housing can pay rich dividends, in terms of job creation and a boost to the social and economic fabric.

However, this investment must be carefully thought through and viewed as part of a much larger strategy aimed at boosting the social capital of struggling neighbourhoods. The downsides from continuing failure to invest and from neglect of proper management in the housing sphere are there for all to see.