Darragh O'Brien: Ambitious aims and imaginative solutions can solve housing woes

Darragh O'Brien, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and  Heritage, argues that ambitious steps are needed to solve housing issues. Anything less will leave future generations disenchanted and divided

An "ambitious" suite of measures can kick-start the struggling Irish housing market, says Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien. File Picture: PA

A recent editorial in this paper rightly criticised the appalling scenes on Capitol Hill in Washington DC and warned against the prospect of such turmoil occurring here. 

It insightfully pointed to the central role housing has in addressing such potential political unrest but then criticised some of the solutions under development. 

We need to use all tools at our disposal to address the housing crisis. I am committed to pragmatism over ideology and delivery over dogmatism to boost housing supply and open up homeownership to a new generation. 

Politicians need to stop letting one party’s perfect be the enemy of everyone’s good when facing a crisis.

The editorial highlighted Department of Public Expenditure (DPER) officials' concerns around the new state equity scheme.

I agree there are risks to poorly designed schemes. Any proposal using taxpayer’s money must be subject to rigorous debate and analysis. 

That’s why DPER observations on house price risks were shared before the scheme design was drafted and regional house price caps introduced to directly address such inflationary issues. 

The new equity scheme will be a key short-term boost that will activate supply on existing planning permissions and bridge the affordability gap while long-term changes come on stream. 

In the UK, the independent National Audit Office found a similar scheme boosted supply by 14% and only increased prices by 1%. 

The editorial also highlighted a recent request by Dublin City Council to increase the direct state affordable housing subsidy. 

I am currently developing a new affordable housing fund to do just that as part of getting the state directly building affordable units at scale.

The stakes in this discussion are high. 

The centre ground of politics must deliver for citizens in critical areas like housing to keep democracies alive and kicking. 

Darragh O'Brien says he is "developing a new affordable housing fund ... as part of getting the state directly building affordable units at scale".

However, a system where a working couple cannot afford to purchase a house and have the certainty that when they grow older they can enjoy the comforts of their own home and pass it onto their children is a system that is failing that key test. 

Data from the US and UK show that millennials are financially worse off than their parents were at the same age after housing costs are factored into account. 

More diverse, liberal and better educated than any previous generation, they are also faced with the bleakest economic prospects and an increasingly greasy housing ladder. Covid-19 has had a disproportionate impact on them.

In Ireland, government surveys, as well as other stakeholders, have revealed the overwhelming preference of renters to buy their own home. 

The increase in the average age of buying a home from 26 in 1991 to 35 today reflects the much harder path that young people must travel to own their own place. 

This is a demographic financial time-bomb when these households retire and need state support for their rent.

The political implications of the age divide can be seen in a more profound crisis of democratic legitimacy. 

Research from Harvard University has shown that millennials take a far more sceptical view of the core values of democracy than their older counterparts. 

Younger people are less likely to condemn autocratic rule or agree with the importance of free and fair elections. 

Disenchantment with the current political system has seeped deep into the very marrow of how we organise our states around the world.

To date, Ireland has avoided the worst excesses of political extremism that has generated the chaos of Brexit, a profoundly fragmented European Parliament or the political maelstrom of the Trump administration in the US. 

However, taking a complacent approach to this challenge ignores the very real threats we face to our shared prosperity. 

The decline in Irish home ownership to levels below the EU average is such a threat. Building a system that gives each citizen a clear stake in its prosperity must be a priority for Irish politics in the coming years.

In 2021, backed by the largest housing budget in the history of the state we will start building new ladders of opportunity for young people caught in a rip-off rental market. 

It involves a suite of measures, not a silver bullet fantasy. A new equity scheme where the state takes a stake in your home lowering the mortgage costs, bridging the affordability gap and activating supply on existing planning permissions.

A new affordable purchase scheme, with the state directly building affordable homes at scale. A retained and expanded Help-to-Buy incentive scheme and our first ever national cost rental scheme, with tenants getting keys this year. 

We will also help get more builders back on site putting bricks and mortar in the ground by tackling planning barriers, Irish Water connection delays and infrastructure issues to open up more badly needed development. 

This month, I will publish the Land Development Agency bill to fully utilise State-owned lands and lead in strategic planning to build affordability into our housing system. 

All the while, we have the most ambitious social housing programme in our history.

We need to be ambitious in our aims and be imaginative and practical in our solutions. Anything less will leave a legacy of a divided and poorer society to future generations with the sad scenes like those on Capitol Hill all too close to home.

Darragh O'Brien is a Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Housing, Local Government & Heritage.