Housing Minister 'must explain colossal failure to deliver affordable homes' - Funchion

Sinn Féin TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, Kathleen Funchion, has demanded the Minister for Housing 'account for his €1bn budget underspend and explain his complete failure to deliver affordable housing across Carlow and Kilkenny'.

Deputy Funchion was speaking ahead of a Sinn Féin motion on affordable housing, which will be debated in the Dáil this Tuesday.

"The buck stops with Darragh O’Brien," she said.

"After three years as Housing Minister, he must account for his failures and answer the question: Where are the affordable homes? 

"Zero affordable purchase or rental homes were delivered by his government in 2020. Zero affordable purchase homes and just 65 cost rental homes were delivered in 2021. The target for affordable purchase and cost rental homes for 2022 was too low and will not be met.

"On top of these colossal failures, the government’s unforgivable decision to end the ban on no-fault evictions and their mismanagement of the private rental sector has led to widespread fear for tens of thousands of renters."

Funchion stated that the majority of these renters are working people including 'teachers, nurses, gardaí, retail and service sector workers - many of whom are not eligible for social housing'.

The local TD said that among the measures Sinn Féin is calling for this week is for the government to dramatically increase its investment in the delivery of genuinely affordable homes for working people.

"That investment should deliver at least 8,000 affordable homes to rent and buy per year," she said.

"The funding streams and approval processes for the delivery of affordable homes must be streamlined to accelerate the delivery of these homes.

"The controversial Shared Equity Loan scheme and the so-called Help to Buy scheme should be scrapped and the funding diverted into the delivery of genuinely affordable homes. We need a real housing plan with real ambition and real solutions to this crisis."