Simon Harris says election should not be an ‘auction’ on housing targets – Homepage – Laois Nationalist

By Cate McCurry, PA

Taoiseach Simon Harris has said the election should not become an “auction” on housing targets where political parties try to “outbid” each other.

The Fine Gael leader said that the debate should be about how to scale up house building in Ireland and what proportion of the homes are state-funded.

Mr Harris also said the Government would exceed its target to build 33,450 new homes this year, 9,300 of which are expected to be social and 6,400 affordable.

When asked about whether close to 40,000 homes would be built by the end of the year, Mr Harris said that that figure was in a letter sent to him by Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.

Figures published on Thursday suggested that 21,664 new dwellings have been completed in the first nine months of this year, down on 22,521 completions last year.

Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has said it is “delusional” to say that 19,000 more homes would be built in the next 12 weeks and the 40,000 figure was “not credible”.

Mr Harris said on Friday it was clear that the government would exceed its overall target and the total figure would be “well upwards towards 40,000”.

“The 40,000 figure came from a letter I received from the Minister for Housing that went to other party leaders, saying that a figure of 40,000 homes was quite possible this year,” he said.

“I think what is very clear at this stage is the number is going to exceed the target. So yet again, I believe we will exceed our housing targets this year compared to the number set.”

He added: “It’s always impossible to know until the very end of the year, and even in January, the exact final number of completions. But what we do know is in the last couple of years we’ve seen a very significant increase in the final quarter.

“It is just a statement of fact that in recent years we’ve overshot their (the Central Bank and ESRI) projections at the end of the year, and the advice available to me from the Department of Housing is that the pipeline is suggesting that that may well happen again.”

Mr Harris was also asked about the expected release of new housing targets that will be in place from next year.

He said every party in the next general election will have to have a “fully costed” plan on housing for the next five years, adding “no one’s manifesto will be able to do everything”.

He said there should be a debate not only about how many homes should be built a year, but also how they are funded and what breakdown should be state-funded or private.

“The carpet has to fit the room in terms of the level of resource available and the scale of the ambition,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s helpful to get into some sort of auction in terms of the number of homes and everybody promising a bigger number than the next person.

“I think what’s much more useful to people who want to get out of the boxroom and into a home, much more useful for the parent who wants to know if their young person is going to be able to buy a home, is to show people credibly how you can both grow the number of homes in a realistic manner and how you’re going to pay for it.

“You can set the housing figures right now – anybody can say 50,000, 60,000 – there’s a complexity that I think is really important I think that’s going to become very clear during the election campaign.

“We will do lots more on housing supply. When my party first came to power in 2011 there were fewer than 7,000 homes built in that year.

“We know the figure will be well upwards towards 40,000, and certainly the high 30,000s this year, that’s significant progress. But how do you now get from that figure to 50,000, to 60,000, over the lifetime of next government?

“People are going to want to know, show me, tell me how you pay for it, explain it. I think that’s going to be the much more important and challenging job for all political parties in this election, rather than kind of people trying to outbid each other.”