SINN FÉIN HAS has published its new housing policy, which pledges to build 300,000 homes over five years, phase out the Help-to-Buy grant and include a right to housing in the Constitution.
Launching the document in Dublin this morning, party leader Mary Lou McDonald said in one term of government, Sinn Féin will “transform” housing delivery in Ireland.
She said the policy is “comprehensive” and fully costed, stating that it will bring home ownership back into reach for ordinary people.
The policy also pledges to deliver the most ambitious public housing policy in the history of the state, said McDonald. This includes 75,000 new build social houses and 7,500 through acquisitions.
The party aims to deliver 60,000 homes a year in comparison to the government’s plan to build 50,000 new homes annually.
Abolishing stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes under €450,000 is also promised.
It plans to introduce a three-year emergency ban on rent increases for all existing and new tenancies, while also promising to deliver homes with prices of between €250,000 and €300,000.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin also outlined the plan’s program to deliver 115,000 private residential homes, focusing on reducing barriers for builders and developers.
The party also pledges to end long-term homelessness and the need to sleep rough by 2030.
Within the first six months in government Sinn Féin pledges to accelerate multi-annual inner city flat complex regeneration programme.
The current budget of €50 million would be doubled to €100 million a year for five years to insure an accelerated upgrading of older inner city flat complexes in Dublin City and Cork City.
The party reiterated that it will not abolish the existing Help-to-Buy scheme straight away, but will instead “gently” wind the grants down over five years, the Ó Broin confirmed today.
In 2025, people will still be able to avail of the €30,000 grant, but it will wind down by €6,000 per year thereafter.
Ó Broin said the scheme is inflating house prices, stating that the grant would be wound down while affordable and social home delivery is ramped up.
This is one aspect of the plan that coalition parties have grabbed hold off in terms of their criticism of the plan.
Fianna Fáil Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has said the Sinn Féin alternative housing plan would severely limit the ability of first-time buyers to own their own home.
When questioned about whether the wind down of the grant will be a hard sell to voters who are in the market to buy for the first time in the next two years, McDonald said from year one, if Sinn Féin were in government, first-time buyers would still have access to the Help-to-Buy grant, and in addition will benefit from the stamp duty exemption.
“So, off the bat, that is a win,” she told The Journal.
Hitting out at the criticisms levelled at her party’s housing plan by government parties, McDonald said she was not surprised that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were tweeting and talking about it, stating it is “because the scale of their failure is just so obvious to everyone”.
She said:
Now we come along with a plan. It’s comprehensive, it’s actionable, it’s costed, and it can be delivered, and it will be transformational.
“Keep in mind, it has never been more difficult for first-time buyers to buy a home. The majority of first-time buyers aren’t buying new homes with the various government schemes. They’re buying second hand homes.
“If you look at where they’re buying those second hand homes, increasingly they’re buying them further away from the places where they live and work. We’re replicating all of the mistakes of that Celtic Tiger era with commuter sprawl,” said Ó Broin.
He added that under the plan, his party will deliver 4,000 affordable homes in 2025.
Answering questions about Sinn Féin’s plans to deliver houses at a reduced cost due to the homes being built on state-owned land, with the state paying for all land related costs and retaining ownership of the land, Ó Broin said he had consulted with the banks and banking unions.
A number of TDs in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have poked holes in the plan, stating that there would be issues around bank lending and mortgages being obtained by buyers.
Ó Broin said prior to publication of this plan, he consulted with the banks and the Banking and Payments Federation and a short options paper was submitted prior to a meeting being held.
He said conditions were set out “very clearly” around titles, deeds and circumstances. He added that these groups would have to speak for themselves but that he is “absolutely confident” that there would be no issues around mortgages.
A leasehold agreement on the use of the land would stipulate where responsibilities of the buyer stood, stating that “fine detail” of the agreements will require legal advice from Attorney General and Department officials
“I know it’s a cultural shift, but there are tens of thousands of homes around the country on leasehold agreements,” he said, stating that particularly for his parents’ generation, it wasn’t an unusual concept.
“I mean 100,000 apartments are in leasehold now,” he added.
The policy document, entitled ‘A Home of Your Own’, states it would also give more powers to local authorities to help deliver 125,000 social and affordable homes.
In terms of vacant and derelict properties, the party plans to increase the grants to 1% of the market value, while also increasing the vacant land tax to 7%.
A database of all vacant and derelict properties around the country would also be established, with local authorities to receive targets of bringing such properties back online.
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said the plan over a five-year period will cost €39 billion, comprised of €37 billion for a programme of new building and €2 billion for housing acquisitions.
Sinn Féinstates that €25.3 billion will be direct exchequer funding, while €13.7 billion will come from loans from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) and other sources.
On average, it will cost €7.8 billion per year, which the party said would be funded by exchequer surpluses that are available.
Doherty said his priority would be funding the housing plan above that of putting money into the likes of the Future Ireland Fund.
He denied cutting back on putting billions into such funds would be deemed fiscally irresponsible, stating:
“What is irresponsible is actually sacrificing the future of hundreds of thousands of people as this government has done in relation to affordability and household home ownership.”
He added that his priority is funding the plan, stating that surpluses exceed the amount that is required to fund it.
“If there are additional surpluses there, then we support the idea of investing them in terms of the future,” said Doherty.
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said the Sinn Féin housing plan will disadvantage those who wish to own their own home and will ultimately reduce rental supply and will tie the hands of those in need of state-supported home ownership.
“Sinn Féin’s Housing Plan, simply put, would be bad news for homeowners, and bad news for renters. This plan confirms a phasing out of the Help to Buy Scheme, an immediate closure of the First Home Scheme to new applicants and a promise to “examine ending other subsidies”.
He said the schemes have been “seminal in making home ownership a reality for young families in Ireland, with Help to Buy”, assisting 50,000 families across the country.
Speaking about the abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers, he said Sinn Fein is offering a maximum of €4,500 in support compared to €30,000 that comes with the first-time buyers grant.
“When combined with the Government’s First Home Scheme, purchasers can get up to €100,000 in help to buy their first home under existing Government schemes; schemes that Sinn Féin would do away with,” he said.
Meanwhile, the housing minister said the party had put forward a “convoluted affordable leasehold purchase scheme where you don’t actually own the home you buy”.
“You can’t sell it to whomever you wish to, and most worryingly the banks might not even give you a mortgage for, there is very little in the Sinn Féin plan which would inspire confidence,” he added.
O’Brien said:
“The Sinn Féin housing policy clearly shows there is a choice between real progress and solutions or scrapping supports for home ownership and jeopardising the hard won increase in home building.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say