Housing Ireland magazine
Eoin Ó Broin TD: ‘As the housing crisis deepens the case for an alternative grows’ Darragh O’Brien TD has been Minister for Housing for two years. His record, like that of his predecessor Eoghan Murphy, can be judged by the numbers, writes Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD. Credit: Sinn Féin
House prices are up 22 per cent and rents are up 15 per cent since the current government was formed. Homelessness has increased by 19 per cent in the same period.
bureaucracy imposed by the Department of Housing on local authorities and approved housing bodies. Meanwhile, not a single affordable home to buy was delivered in 2020 or 2021. A
In the last 12 months alone, child homelessness has increased by more than 40 per cent. For the first time since records began there are now more than 5,000 single adults in Department of Housing funded emergency accommodation. Social housing delivery was 30 per cent behind target in 2020 and 2021. This was partly due to Covid-19 but also because of the unnecessary levels of
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handful have been completed this so far in 2022, though at best only 450 will be delivered by year’s end. Progress on affordable cost rental is not much better, with just 65 such units delivered in 2021 and a target of up to 700 for 2022. At the same time, the Land Development Agency will not deliver a single new build home until 2024 while its cost rental target, delivered via
Project Tosaigh turnkeys, is unlikely to yield any units this year.
Housing for All critique The hallmarks of Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien TD’s first two years in office have been big promises, lengthy delays, and poor delivery. It took 14 months for the Minister to publish his housing plan. Despite its length, it is light on detail and continues with the same failed policy consensus of the previous government. In fact, Housing for All’s social housing targets are lower than those of the previous governments. The affordable housing targets are even worse.
