Government is ‘failing spectacularly’ to deal with housing crisis, says Sinn Féin

The Government is “failing spectacularly” to deal with the housing crisis and the latest State subsidy scheme for developers should be scrapped, Sinn Féin has said.

The party’s deputy leader Pearse Doherty said the recently announced Croí Cónaithe cities fund was “straight out of the playbook of Fianna Fáil, right back to the times of the Galway tent”.

Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil on Wednesday, Mr Doherty said the Government’s housing approach was failing while the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien was “failing spectacularly”.

“The housing crisis that has been created by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael defines the life of an entire generation and on your watch Minister things have gone from bad to worse,” he told Mr O’Brien, who was standing in for the Taoiseach.

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The Donegal TD said instead of a ban on rent increases and evictions or a ramping up in the delivery of “genuinely” affordable homes,” the Government was introducing “a bonkers scheme” where “you’re going to give €450 million of taxpayers’ money to developers to build apartments where there will be no reduction in the prices that would be charged to homeowners”.

“It is absolutely off the wall stuff,” Mr Doherty added.

The Croí Cónaithe cities scheme will subvent the construction of up to 5,000 apartments in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford which have planning permission but remain unbuilt because costs outstrip market values.

To get the funding, developers must demonstrate there is a viability gap between what the apartment costs to build and the sales price they can achieve.

A national maximum of €120,000 per apartment has been set, but developers building in the regional cities will be able to argue for an increase of up to 20 per cent, bringing the State subvention to €144,000.

To qualify, developers must agree to sell the apartments to owner-occupiers only, construction should start by the end of March next year, and the homes must be completed by the end of 2025.

Mr Doherty said documents circulated showed the anticipated open market value of a one-bed apartment would be €320,00, a two-bed apartment €390,000 and a three-bed apartment €445,000 despite the Minister quoting prices of €250,000 in the Dáil.

“The truth is Minister that your scheme won’t deliver affordable housing for people. Isn’t that the truth? You know that, we know that, why don’t you tell the people straight,” he added.

“It is straight from the old Fianna Fáil playbook that destroyed the housing system at the start when you were last in Government; big handouts to developers and homeownership only for those that are the wealthiest.”

In response, Mr O’Brien said housing supply was increasing and accused Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald of being a “serial objector” to housing developments.

Mr O’Brien said Sinn Féin was trying to “distort the truth” at every juncture and that the State had the highest number of housing commencements in the year to March since 2007.

He said the Croí Cónaithe cities scheme was “a targeted measure” to ensure that people could own apartments in the country’s five major cities and that the support would go to the purchaser, “not the developer”.

“You know that but you see it doesn’t suit your narrative because your narrative is, on every issue, is to oppose, oppose, oppose and say that it’s not working,” Mr O’Brien told Mr Doherty.