The Labour Party's spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, got it right recently when he prophesied that housing will be an issue of great consequence in the next general election. Credit for a booming economy will not be bestowed at the hustings on the Government parties. Instead, they are likely to face criticism for the consequences of the boom. And without doubt, the chief among these will be the unavailability of affordable housing.
Elsewhere in Europe there is much less of a desire to own accommodation. Even in countries where disposable income would be significantly higher than that which prevails in Ireland, there is a tendency to avoid tying up capital in accommodation. This may be partly due to high prices but in the main it is because it is custom and practice for many residents of Europe's big cities to rent. It is a practice, it would seem, which is not going to catch on here.
The way to tackle the housing shortage is to increase the supply but that takes time to work through, more time than the Government has left until the next election. The Government can, however, help to solve the shortage of social housing more promptly. The National Plan provides for an investment of £6 billion in social and affordable housing, meeting the needs of over 90,000 households over a period of seven years. These are ambitious targets and they may well be met but, unless the Government shows some resolve, few housing completions will occur in the early years of the plan.
The Government's controversial proposal to oblige builders to make available 20 per cent of development land for social housing should prove highly effective. However, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, found himself in hot water yesterday over Opposition charges that he had kowtowed to the building industry on the 20 per cent stipulation. What is not in dispute is that Mr Dempsey, next week, will propose an amendment to his Bill which will give the builder an alternative to just selling 20 per cent of the land to the local authority. The amendment will allow the builder to agree a price with the local authority for the social housing and that price will include an element of "construction profit". The Irish Housebuilders' Association is unimpressed. It wants builders to be able to put up private housing on all of the site. The association would seem to be either unaware or uncaring of the thousands of families on housing waiting lists.
Mr Dempsey argues that he had always intended to introduce this amendment and indeed there is some evidence in his favour. But what is important is that the 20 per cent still gets set aside for social housing. The local authority will put construction of the houses out to tender and if the builder involved in the development tenders the lowest price, then that builder will get the work. It matters not who builds the houses.
But speed is of the essence and there are justifiable concerns that the 20 per cent proposal may take over a year to come into law given that it is part of a lengthy and complex Bill. The Labour Party has proposed instead that any application for a residential development will be subject to the 20 per cent social housing requirement. It has the merit of simplicity and swiftness. Mr Dempsey should consider it.