James Browne: As minister, I intend to get Ireland's housing right
When taking up the post of housing minister 12 weeks ago, I set as my number one priority to meet with our housing and homelessness organisations and advocacy groups, local authority chiefs, the construction industry, approved housing bodies and others.
The mission is to remove the barriers to the supply of homes. The answer involves state-wide measures to remove these barriers in our towns and cities.
I am under no illusion as to the urgency and the complexity of the housing crisis we’re in. I want to scale up delivery as rapidly as possible so people have access to the dignity of a front door of their own.
When taking up the post of housing minister 12 weeks ago, I set as my number one priority to meet with our housing and homelessness organisations and advocacy groups, local authority chiefs, the construction industry, approved housing bodies and others.
This was crucial so I could pull all the pieces of the jigsaw together, follow the numbers, and line up activation measures to remove barriers and complete homes.
What we do in the next 90 days will decide the pathway for the next five years and I intend to get it right. I have to be decisive and considered, and I’ve been preparing the teams in my department and colleagues across Government and state agencies to gear up.
I have met with people sleeping out on our streets and in hostels, those in hotel rooms and temporary accommodation, and families on waiting lists for social housing.
Every week, I hear from couples trying to save for a mortgage while paying rent, adults unable to move out from their parent’s houses, single people who feel they’ve no way into the housing market, students frustrated trying to find a room they can afford, and people in need of accessible housing.
Each is a distinct group with specific accommodation needs that require targeted initiatives and supports, yet all are impacted by the same overall issue one way or another - supply.
Agreed by Cabinet on April 9, the National Planning Framework (NPF) is fundamental in the building of more homes in our urban and rural areas as part of strategic, sustainable and balanced regional growth.
The NPF provides the legal framework for me to direct local authorities to increase the amount of land zoned for housing across the country and they will now be opening up all local development plans with individual mandatory targets. This is a big task for our local authorities, but it must be done.
If we are to deliver more homes in every county. I am focused on delivery. The moves we make and the direction of that movement matters.
While all options under the Department of Housing are on the table, I consider none of them lightly because the impact of each decision is about someone’s home down the line – which is much more than a roof over your head. A home is a safe and secure place to live and be part of a community.
I’m in the process of confirming a dedicated housing activation office team to focus on the ‘problem’ areas most in need of attention to get building moving – to identify sites for housing delivery and unlock them - to call out where the system is lagging and impose solutions.
The underpinning infrastructure must be ready for the homes we need to build. Uisce Éireann, ESB, EirGrid and local authorities will be on notice to get boots on the ground in the areas we need them.
I am pulling in senior people from state agencies who have been close to infrastructure delivery, and this dedicated, hands-on team will identify planning impediments in key areas, activating sites at an operational level.
I will speed up the planning process by stopping the weaponsiation of our court system by strangers unconnected to an area, who by taking court actions are currently able to prevent the delivery of thousands of homes purely by delay tactics.
In the critical weeks ahead, I will commence laws to reform our judicial review system, to ensure only those with genuine reasons will be able to succeed at judicial reviews. There are any number of housing schemes now stuck in unnecessary judicial reviews instead of having shovels in the ground. This has to stop.
Allied to this, I will be establishing An Coimisiún Pleanála in the coming weeks to replace An Bord Pleanála. This new body, with a changed organisational structure, will have mandatory statutory deadlines for ensuring planning decisions.
This work is about accelerating crucial planning decisions and reducing delays in court, which has a knock-on impact on building homes. We must deliver more homes, more quickly, for more people.
If there was a silver bullet, we would fire it. I will pull all the levers that are at our disposal in the Department of Housing and work collectively across Government to unlock the barriers to home delivery at the scale that’s needed.
What I am not interested in is politics as usual. We have so much work to do, we have to work together, and the system itself has to work harder and smarter. We have to be pragmatic, and we have to put the delivery of homes ahead of shouting across aisles.
I am determined to accelerate the provision of homes in our communities across Ireland, and I am prepared to lead on the decisions to make that happen, for all of us.
- James Browne is Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government
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