Social Justice Ireland: Government must circumvent EU and build
The independent think-tank says that the number of homes needed to tackle waiting lists will never be built by the private sector.
The Government’s Rebuilding Ireland programme, launched in July, 2016, proposes that 47,000 social-housing units be delivered by 2021. While 26,000 units are to be built exclusively as social housing, the remainder are to be acquired or bought by local authorities and housing associations from the private sector and from other sources.
However, Social Justice Ireland director Seán Healy says it is unacceptable, and an indication of how the Government’s approach to housing is failing, that 1,330 children under 10 are homeless. Half of the 91,600 households on the social-housing waiting list are families, he said.
“The private sector will never build social housing on the scale required. Government must commit to building sufficient social-housing units to eliminate the current housing waiting list,” said Mr Healy.
The housing crisis is a prevalent issue in Social Justice Ireland’s National Social Monitor 2017, which is being launched today.
Its research and policy analyst, Michelle Murphy, said a number of options have been identified to secure the financing to allow the Government to expand local authority social-housing construction.
One is to use existing local-authority housing as collateral against loans taken on a low-finance, special-purpose vehicle, while still meeting strict European conditions on off-balance-sheet initiatives.
Another suggestion is to secure flexibility in the EU’s Stability and Growth PAct, around limits on public investment in housing and other social infrastructure.
The National Social Monitor 2017 also raises concern that inadequate funding is being provided to address the impact of an ageing population on public services and infrastructure.
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