Cllr Derek Nolan

Labour councillor Derek Nolan has a tabled a motion to this year’s Labour conference calling for a change in government housing strategy. The motion calls for the government to stop social housing money ending up in developers’ pockets, and will be debated by conference in NUI Galway on Saturday.

Cllr Nolan said, “I am particularly concerned that money is being diverted away from schemes that provide for the purchase of residential properties in favour of leasing empty housing stock from developers and builders under the Social Housing Leasing Initiative.

Since this scheme was announced last year, I have raised my serious concerns about it on an ongoing basis. Nationally, the Labour Party has referred the scheme to the Comptroller and Auditor General who has indicated that an in-depth investigation is warranted.

I don’t believe that any real consideration has been given by the Government to the relative merits of leasing over purchase. Nationally, some €20 million was set aside in 2009 to lease properties on a 10 or 20 year basis, with substantial sums to be allocated in future years also, but house prices have dropped considerably recently, so it would make much more sense to buy the houses as a long term asset.

I am also concerned that the only fund that seems to be enjoying an increased allocation is the Rental Accommodation Scheme, a fund that provides support for people renting in the private sector from landlords, developers and builders. There is no doubt that there is an acute need for supports like this, but the scheme should never be more than a stop-gap measure, and has no place in any long-term strategy to tackle housing needs.

My motion to conference will call for these funds to be diverted towards the purchase of assets that the state will enjoy for years to come, not wasting money propping up builders and developers.”

Text of Motion:

Conference, concerned about the deteriorating social housing crisis in Ireland, condemns the government’s landlord-centric approach to housing provision and calls for the following:

• The diversion of funding from the Rental Accommodation Scheme towards a housing building programme.
• The elimination of the long term leasing programme in favour of a housing purchase scheme, and
• The provision of long term financing to local authorities to transfer unsold affordable housing stock to social housing stock.

Proposing Branch : Galway City East Branch