LAST UPDATE | 5 Nov

HOUSING MINISTER JAMES Browne has set himself an ambitious target, telling reporters today that he plans to “end the housing crisis” within the next four years. 

Speaking at the launch of a new housing development in Skerries this morning, the minister said:

“I aim to end the housing crisis in my term. I believe that can be done.”

Other housing ministers have set similar targets for themselves in the past, only to fail in their attempts. 

Browne was responding to questions about the Department of Finance’s ‘Future Forty’ report, which attempts to predict the state of the country out to 2065.

The report states that the consequences of not meeting the 300,000 housing target by 2030 is “considerable”. 

It states that if the target is missed by five years, pent-up demand will remain for an additional five years. Missing this target by ten years will extend pent-up demand until 2049.

It adds that the construction workforce will also have to increase considerably.

Given the “tight” labour market currently, workers from abroad or from other sectors of the workforce will have to be brought in, states the report.  

Browne said the report speculates on 2,000 different scenarios and is based on a “no change model”.

“I’m certainly not accepting a no change model. We are driving change. We’ve made huge decisions over the last eight months, very substantial changes, some of them, not always popular, but I believe are necessary to deliver and drive home delivery,” he said. 

The minister said some say targets drive delivery, while others say they can “confuse matters”. 

“I’m totally results driven, and that’s what I’m about, removing the blockages. We have to take risks here. We can’t be so cautious that we’re afraid to make decisions,” he added.

Officials being overcautious 

He told the media that he gets a sense that there are some working in the system that are overcautious because of mistakes made in the past.

“People are self censoring,” he said, adding he is “about giving that confidence to officials in the department and across government” to allow them to “take calculated risk”. 

Browne said he is absolutely determined to make every change possible that is necessary to deliver the homes needed.

“I believe we will deliver the homes that we need, and I think we’re really going to see those results in the very near future,” he added. 

His comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s long-awaited new housing plan. 

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The update on the government’s Housing for All plan was due to be released earlier this year, but it has faced multiple delays. 

Previously the Tánaiste and Taoiseach have said that the new plan will not necessarily be filled with new announcements, with Simon Harris stating that government has not been “waiting” around to make announcements.

Harris said it would have been “offensive to the public” to make them wait for a “glossy document”.

Emergency legislation

At tonight’s Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, Harris said that, if needed, emergency legislation can be used to ensure critical infrastructure needs are met and more are delivered.

He said this could be required for access to essential infrastructure, like water and energy supplies, for homes and sites across the country.

The Fine Gael leader said emergency legislation had been passed before in the Oireachtas when it was needed, such as in the years following the Brexit vote, and can be passed again for crucial national projects to cut through the red tape. 

At the event in Skerries this morning, where Tuath Housing launched 111 new homes for rent, junior housing minister John Cummins said he believes some people are taking judicial reviews with the “sole goal of frustrating the delivery of housing and infrastructure”.

Cummins said he would not reference ongoing cases, but that changes made in the Planning Act were “important”.

“What I would say about judicial reviews generally is I have no doubt in my mind that there are people who are taking judicial reviews in this country with the sole goal of trying to frustrate the delivery of infrastructure and housing, and that, to me, is unacceptable.”