A number of “potentially lucrative” EU funding schemes for Ireland to develop new social housing or boost existing housing stock “remain completely unutilised”, a new report has claimed.
Commissioned by Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews, the report by Housing Europe identifies 11 problems in the Irish housing sector that present barriers to progress, as well as 19 policy options from other European states that could tackle them.
“As interest rates rise, and returns on investment are less attractive, relying on the private sector to deliver our housing targets is risky,” Mr Andrews said.
“Ireland needs workarounds to EU fiscal rules to facilitate additional public investment in housing.”
The report highlights how young Irish people stay living in the family home longer than their European peers, with the average age a person moves out now standing at 28.4 years compared to 21.3 years in Denmark.
It also says while Irish people tend to live in homes with more people than the European average, “there is some reason to suspect that the lack of housing is artificially boosting the average household size in Ireland”.
Some of the main issues identified include the private sector not hitting the delivery targets set out in national strategies, less plentiful private investment for build-to-rent developments and local authorities and State agencies not being utilised to their full potential.
The proposed solutions to help ease the housing crisis include:
- Price controlled housing for purchase similar to Helsinki’s Hitas system based on long-term public leasing of land;
- Build cost-rental accommodation, adapted for young people, as in Denmark;
- Establish a guarantee fund for social housing based on the Dutch model to assist the rollout of cost-rental schemes;
- Increase the tax rate of the Residential Zoned Land Tax based on the French Tax on Undeveloped Land.
Mr Andrews added: “Other member states are more ambitious when it comes to obtaining EU funding, such as Invest EU and Horizon Europe. We need to ensure that any funding we do receive is leveraged to tackle the housing crisis.”
