Greens: National Housing Authority would deliver 7,500 social and affordable homes per year

19th February 2016

Glass Bottle Site and other public lands must be developed to solve the housing crisis

The Green Party today unveiled their proposals for a National Housing Authority, saying that the agency would deliver 20,000 housing units per year.

Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan said today: “We have a housing crisis with rising rents and no new construction taking place. The solution to this crisis will involve a range of different measures but central to any solution has to be consistent action by the state and local authorities to deliver new social housing supplies.   

“The Government had all the tools to solve the housing crisis – but it failed to act decisively. Direct state action was needed, but the Government tinkered with the market instead, hoping that would solve the problem. We have large areas in public ownership, such as the 25 acres at Glass Bottle Site which has been allowed to lie idle for the last five years as the housing crisis grew.

“The Green Party would amalgamate the Housing Agency and the Housing Finance Agency to create the National Housing Authority, tasked with delivering 20,000 units per year, 7,500 of which would be social and affordable homes.

“The NHA would work closely with local authorities and housing associations to plan, finance, develop and deliver the housing stock we desperately need. The new authority would take the existing expertise developed within NAMA as that agency winds down to carry out its role.

“The NHA would borrow on the open market, secured against the future income streams from the new and existing public housing stock.   This borrowing would be off the state's balance sheet and be similar to the model used in Austria, where the same sort of housing authority provides some 22% of primary residences in that state.    The borrowing would be raised against the future income streams from a 'cost rental' model of social housing."

“Funding would be provided both to the local authority and housing associations and the housing would have a much wider mix of tenants who would pay rental income at market rates. The state would provide rental support for tenants on low incomes, rather than the current support model where rent supplements go directly to the private sector. The result is much more mixed schemes where social housing is seen as a desirable and sought after alternative.”

 

ENDS

 

Green Party Housing Policy

The Green Party’s vision for housing in Ireland is for affordable homes, a strong private rental sector and a social housing system based on a cost rental model as proposed by the National Economic and Social Council.

We want to build neighbourhoods that are people centred and include easy access to green spaces and community facilities.

The Green Party believes in focusing on housing for occupation, limiting the ability to use housing as a speculative asset.

In response to the severe housing shortages affecting large parts of the country, it is imperative that the Government take direct action to rectify the situation, rather than counting on small market interventions to solve the problem. The Green Party in government would amalgamate the Housing Agency and the Housing Finance Agency to create the National Housing Authority, tasked with providing 7,500 units of social and affordable housing per annum. Further, this new authority would take the existing expertise developed within NAMA as that agency winds down.

These units would be delivered through open tender, and would be managed by local authorities. The National Housing Authority would borrow on the open market, secured against the future income streams of the housing stock to be provided.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) may allocate a certain portion of its funds to the development of social and affordable housing, by purchasing National Housing Authority bonds. It is estimated that the total size of this fund is approximately €7 billion. We would allocate 2% of the ISIF to these bonds.

In any pension fund there is at least a small allocation to fixed income bonds (usually sovereign bonds). We would allow a portion of this allocation be held in National Housing Authority bonds rather than foreign bonds. It is estimated that the assets of Irish Pension Schemes total approximately €90 billion.

This proposed investment vehicle is similar in principle to LPHAs which operate in Austria, which own 22% of primary residences in that state.

The following would ensure sustainable development and avoid a rerun of the property bubble.

On housing, we will:

• Hold a referendum to enshrine housing as a social right in the Constitution
• Create a National Housing Authority which, in conjunction with local authorities, would be responsible for housing, housing finance, planning, land development and construction in each local authority area
• Convert State controlled lands including some of those 800 sites identified by the Irish Council for Social Housing as being available into social and student accommodation use
• Restore the 80% rezoning windfall tax
• Replace property tax with a new tax levied annually at a progressive rate on the site value of lands suitable for building (Site Valuation Tax)
• Tackle the under-use and hoarding of derelict land by the state, semi-state and private sectors by reforming the Derelict Sites Act
• Promote higher urban densities in terms of housing design, particularly in public transport corridors, through a new National Spatial Plan
• Discourage unsustainable “one-off housing” sprawl, favouring villages or other traditional housing clusters in rural areas through a new National Spatial Plan
• Prioritise brownfields sites for new developments and preserve green field sites for recreational purposes and green infrastructure, through a new National Spatial Plan
• Target that 20% of all new houses should be passive standard, achieving the highest standards of energy efficiency and minimal impact on the environment
• Restore the Part (V) requirements for social housing provision in housing developments to 20%
• Limit the amount by which a landlord can raise rent in any year to 7%
• Allocate an extra €1m in funding to the Private Residential Tenancies Board, to ensure tenancy rights are being upheld
• Amend equality legislation to prevent tenants being rejected solely on the basis of receiving rent supplement
• Create an online portal to facilitate the transfer of social housing between tenants - ultimately handled by the local housing department