Homelessness crisis may be tackled by emergency powers

Emergency powers may be used to tackle the growing homelessness crisis and to ensure up to 25,000 homes are built per year to address the lack of proper, affordable accommodation for families.

A new infrastructure fund is to be set up by the Government to provide local authorities with finance for building roads and bridges to access landbanks to be used for social housing.

The Government will also provide experts to help local authorities speed up designs for such projects.

They are among the proposals Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Simon Coveney is examining for a new housing strategy to be published at the end of July.

It will first prioritise tackling homelessness and also powering up the construction sector to rebalance the lack of proper, affordable housing over the next three years.

Mr Coveney outlined some of the proposals when he met with city and county councillors in Cork yesterday. He plans to task all local authorities to come up with action plans which would feed into the new national strategy.

He said there were around 240,000 vacant homes in Ireland, the majority of which are owned by the private sector. Vacancy and dereliction are issues the minister wants addressed swiftly. Mr Coveney said emergency accommodation, in particular, would have to be built in Dublin and surrounding counties along with Cork.

He spoke as figures released by Focus Ireland showed 74 families were homeless in Dublin in April. The increase brought the total number of families living in emergency accommodation in Dublin to a record 888, with 1,786 affected.

The minister said a new strategy will also be drawn up for population growth in Cork, Waterford, and Limerick and is demanding that houses of the right quality be constructed in the right places. This new planning framework will be launched next summer and will replace the national spatial strategy.

Mr Coveney said he would also consider introducing emergency powers as a last resort to ensure the housing crisis was tackled.

His target is 25,000-35,000 new housing units built per year over the next few years. About 22,000, it is envisaged, will be provided by local authorities and voluntary housing agencies. He indicated some properties could also be acquired through lease from the private sector.

The minister also pointed to plans for strategic development zoning (SDZ) to ensure large scale housing projects are processed faster, but also to ensure houses are built in the right places and with a proper mixture of public and privately-owned homes. “My priority is to give housing the priority it deserves at budget time. I’m looking for an ambitious plan which is realistic,” said Mr Coveney.

He said there was also potential to free up student accommodation and to provide downsized properties for elderly couples with grown-up children in order to free up family homes.

“We have a lot of work to do to get back to a normal situation and rents becoming affordable. There was a 16% growth in rent in Cork city in the last year, which is unsustainable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Coveney said he was embarking on “a significant review of commercial rates”.

Furthermore, the minister said he was looking at introducing incentives for businesses to locate in disadvantaged areas.