Housing is the number one issue in these elections. Stewart Smyth argues that the local elections
represent an opportunity to put campaigners in council chambers and evict Fianna Fáil and Fine
Gael.
The housing crisis remains the central issue for most voters. Housing is consistently the number one issue for over half of voters. As one contribution to an RTE vox-pop said, “we used to worry about the lack of jobs, now its housing”.
Despite the latest attempts at spin from the government, with the claim they have “turned the corner” because they hit the overall Housing for All target completions last year, housing remains the central issue. And will do so for the foreseeable future.
Policy Failures
In part because the targets in Housing for All are wholly inadequate, at 33,000 per annum. The recent Housing Commission report estimated the required level of new homes to be in a range from 33,400 to 81,400, depending on trends in population growth and household size. The mid-point of their analysis indicates the need for 55,000 new homes per year.
Further, there is already a housing deficit (backlog) of about 250,000 homes.
So even if the government hits its own targets they are not addressing the actual levels of housing need in the state, this will continue to worsen the existing backlog.
Digging further into the government numbers the government are consistently missing their targets for social and affordable housing. So that “turning the corner” means more unaffordable house, which does nothing to address the dire need of those on low and middle incomes.
In April 2024 there were 14,009 recognised as homeless – a new record. And this number only covers those accessing emergency accommodation. Using the preferred EU measure (that includes sofa surfers, those in Direct Provision, domestic violence refuges, etc.) there are nearly 24,000 homeless in Ireland.
For context when the government took office in June 2020 there were 8,699 homeless people. The government has singularly failed to address the housing need in the country.
If the government was serious about addressing the housing crisis they would declare an emergency, deploy the “use it or lose it” principle with no loopholes and bring those homes into use.
Government – Bluster but No Solutions
Evidence is emerging that the government have a strategy of just throwing money at reducing the social housing waiting lists, with whole developments being bought by the state direct from developers.
On the ground this means that in some local areas there appears to be some movement on the housing waiting lists, with people getting homes.
The problem here for the government is their sole reliance on the private developers to deliver new homes.
First, buying direct from developers (turnkey housing) is the most expensive way of procuring new public housing, as the developers still make their profits. Second, it is the developers who are deciding what type of housing and where to build it, based on profit-making and market priorities. Therefore, this housing is mainly 1-2 bed apartments.
Those on the housing waiting lists looking for 3-4 bedroom homes are still going to find it difficult, if not impossible.
Sinn Fein Mimicry
On this site, we have previously identified Sinn Fein’s long march to the centre ground. This is evident in housing as much as any other area. Despite the polished presentation and radical(‘ish) sounding rhetoric from Eoin O’Broin, Sinn Fein’s housing policies ape those of the government. Their alternative housing budget published last autumn promises a bit more money and to work more effectively than the current government.
There is no sense in which they are seeking to restructure the housing system to strip out profit –making and provide a new generation of mass public housing.
You can see this in their proposed solution to the vulture funds buying new developments.
The government increased the stamp duty to 10%, claiming this would make such transactions uneconomical for the funds. This was wholly naïve and inadequate because the increase in stamp duty is merely passed on to renters in higher rents.
SF’s proposed solution to the vulture funds is to accept the logic of mainstream economics and go a little bit further than the government and increase the stamp duty to 17%.
In contrast, the People Before Profit policy is to break with mainstream economic and political consensus and simply ban (make it illegal) the vulture funds and corporate bodies from owning residential properties.
A second example, concerns SF’s attitude towards a state construction company. There was nothing in their alternative housing budget to indicate such a company would be set-up.
This should not come as a surprise. We know Sinn Fein and Eoin O’Broin have been on a charm offensive with big business, including builders and developers. For these firms a state construction company is a direct attack on their control over the housing system.
Not only would a state construction company take a portion of new housing activity away from the developers, but also by providing decent secure working conditions and pay, it would undermine bogus self-employment and sub-contracting that is rife in the sector. Thereby, either forcing existing developers and construction firms to improve their pay and conditions or see their workers leave and join the state company.
Faced with this scenario, SF are not supporting the setting up of such a company – in other words they are maintaining the existing delivery mechanisms for housing in the state.
Immigrants don’t cause a lack of housing
There seems a “common sense” argument that Ireland is full. As the Italian revolutionary Gramsci pointed out common sense is but one part of a contradictory consciousness that we all experience under capitalism. At the same time as holding this “common sense” view, people are also angry at the government for their continually failing housing policies.
Socialists need to advance the good sense arguments that out the blame for the housing crisis on the government. For example, pointing out that are over 160,000 vacant homes in the country. The issue we have is not one of scarcity, but one of hoarding.
As Brian O’Boyle, People Before Profit MEP candidate, said recently “we have these crises because of 15 years of failed policies by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.”
If you are sitting on a housing waiting list for years, it’s because the government haven’t built enough social housing. Asylum seekers do not get council housing – that’s why we see the tents popping up along the canals, or camps being set-up in the Dublin mountains.
Put A Campaigner in the Council
There is much to do to fix our broken housing system. Top of that list is a huge expansion of council housing. The Housing Commission report recognise this, as do the public. A poll at the end of May showed that “90% believe local authorities and the State must play a far greater role in the building and provision of homes”.
This is why we need to put campaigners in the councils and evict FF/FG. And we know having People Before Profit councillors makes a difference to housing at a local level:
- In Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Cllr Melisa Halpin and Richard Boyd Barrett (TD) have been central to the campaign for the Shanganagh Castle site Shankill to be social housing. Next year over 600 new homes on the site will be delivered at social and affordable rents;
- In South Dublin County Council, Cllr Madeleine Johansson successfully campaigned for the council to use its compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers and bring two derelict properties back into council use. It’s a small victory in terms of numbers but sets an important precedent for the future;
- In Carlow County Council, Cllr Adreinne Wallace has also been at the forefront of pushing the council to use its CPO powers and bring vacant and derelict homes back into public use;
These are but three examples, where People Before Profit councillors have made a difference in local communities. And why they need first preference votes in the elections this week.
