Sinn Féin has pledged that it would invest up to €39 billion in social and affordable housing over five years under its new housing policy plan which will be launched today.
The document entitled ‘A Home Of Your Own’ is aiming to deliver 300,000 homes in a five-year period commencing in 2025.
This plan, which runs to more than 100 pages, is described as a reset of housing policy and a radical alternative to the Government’s current strategy.
It promises to invest an average of €7.8bn every year on social and affordable homes in order to deliver 125,000 of these homes over five years.
Some €2bn would be used over this period to acquire a further 7,500 social and affordable homes.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said housing is the party’s number one priority.
Speaking at the launch of the plan, she said: “This plan is the way forward. This has the answers for the rental sector, for public housing and also for the private market.
“We are putting our money where our mouth is. We are making a very, very big commitment to people that for a Sinn Féin government this is the number one priority.
“Everywhere we go, everyone we talk to says this is the issue that needs to be solved and the nut that needs to be cracked. This policy, which has taken a huge amount of effort, time and collaboration to produce, has the answer. And we want the opportunity to implement this, so when we go to the people we will ask for that chance.”
The plan is also looking at changes to help deliver 115,000 private homes for purchase with a further 60,000 made of rental and self-build properties.
The changes include quicker planning decisions and low-cost loans for developers which aims to reduce financial risks in the early stages of the build.
The scheme would give far greater autonomy to local authorities in relation to the delivery of housing.
The establishment of a publicly owned construction firm for the four Dublin councils would also be progressed.
The Land Development Agency would be transformed into a new agency with more power to acquire zoned land.
There is also a promise of a stamp duty exemption for first-time buyers purchasing a home with a value of up to €450,000.
The party also wants a three-year ban on rent increases and it would phase out the current Help to Buy Scheme and end the First Home Scheme.
The publication of the plan seeks to pitch Sinn Féin housing policies as very different to the Government’s ahead of a general election that must be held within months.
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Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has written to LDA Chief Executive John Coleman describing the Sinn Féin proposal to replace agency as dangerous.
In a letter, the minister said the move would jeopardise jobs, bring uncertainty to the sector and ultimately delay the building of homes across the country.
He also asked the CEO to clarify if Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin had discussed this plan with the LDA.
Mr Ó Broin has said the core of his party’s housing plan is to deliver tens of thousands of “genuinely” affordable homes, “bringing homeownership back into reach of working people”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said the proposal contains two main themes – a dramatic increase in direct investment for local authorities and approved housing bodies in delivering social and affordable homes to rent or buy, and a shift in how the State engages with the private residential development sector to increase the number of new homes on the market.
“What we are trying to do is adopt the housing commissions call for a radical reset of housing policy.
“We’ve accepted their recommendation that we need 300,000 new homes, an average of 60,000 new homes a year over the next five years,” he added.
Mr Ó Broin said it is the first time an opposition party has published a detailed and fully costed five-year alternative housing plan.
“We’ve done that because we want to set out very clearly for people how we would in Government end the housing crisis.”
SF housing plan is ‘convoluted’, says minister
Mr O’Brien has said he is “underwhelmed” by Sinn Féin’s plan, adding that it is “convoluted” and is against home ownership.
“I certainly think for those who want to own their own home, this is a very dangerous proposition from Sinn Féin,” he said this morning.
The plan will restrict any progress he said the Government has been making, and “actually could have a really serious detrimental impact on the housing sector, both public and private housing”.
He said while he wants to look through the plan in detail, he believes there is a lot in it for people to be concerned about.
“It’s very clear to me, just for my initial look at their plan, that they’re against home ownership, we have very significant support for first time buyers, for example, upwards towards €100,000, between the Help to Buy grant and the first home scheme, both of which Sinn Féin have said in their plan they will scrap and they will restrict”.
The minister said “the Sinn Féin plan will take the legs from under prospective homeowners, unquestionably”.
Additional reporting Joe Mag Raollaigh
