Dublin needs more housing now – Labour emergency motion
Labour Councillor for the Pembroke LEA, Cllr Dermot Lacey, has submitted a motion to Dublin City Council which, if passed would have statutory effect in increasing the Dublin City Council’s targets for the building of homes.
He is calling on all Dublin City Councillors and local election candidates to pledge their support for his initiative.
Cllr Lacey said:
“The housing crisis continues to affect all quarters of Irish society. Home ownership should be a legitimate aspiration for people, but far too many are locked out of the system.
“I routinely hear from people stuck at the hard edge of this crisis – whether from those left on the housing list for years, from multiple generations of families all living under one roof due to a lack of supply, from renters living in fear of eviction, or from those unable to get a mortgage.
“Last year, the Labour Party called on the Government to revise its housing targets upwards to build 50,000 new homes per year. Without a higher target, there is no way that we will deliver to match established need.
“Since then, multiple experts and independent bodies have come out to agree with our assessment. Even the Government’s own Housing Commission and the Taoiseach have accepted that level of ambition is necessary.
“However, despite this, the Minister for Housing has informed Ivana Bacik TD that he will not revisit his Government’s targets until at least the autumn.
“That means another year will be wasted in this fight to deliver homes for people.
“The existing targets are now a work of fiction. While the Government organises press conferences today to celebrate its Housing for All plan on the one hand, they are simultaneously accepting as fanciful that those targets will end this housing crisis.
“Labour councillors are saying that’s not good enough. While the government remains so slow off the mark, we are taking steps to make sure that homes will be delivered for our communities which need them so badly.
“Section 130 of the Local Government Act 2001 creates a mechanism for local authorities’ motions to have statutory effect, like a law passed in the Dáil or Seanad would.
“I have now submitted such a motion.
“If passed, this motion will make the difference between Dublin City Council delivering the homes we need, rather than continuing to fall short of the mark. I am calling on all other elected Councillors on Dublin City Council – and election hopefuls too – to support the motion when it is debated, and to highlight the need for the Government to wake up.”
ENDS
Editor’s note: Under section 130 of the Local Government Act 2001, it is the function of the elected council of a local authority to determine by resolution the policy of the local authority. A valid section 130 motion has statutory effect and binds the chief executive and other officials.
The text of Cllr Lacey’s motion reads as follows:
Dublin City Council welcomes the acknowledgement by the Taoiseach and Government that the housing development targets set in ‘Housing for All’ are inadequate and must be revised upwards by at least 50 per cent and, pursuant to section 130 of the Local Government Act 2001, determines that it is the policy of this Council –
1. that, in consequence, the targets handed down by the Government to this Council, and adopted in its Housing Delivery Action Plan, are also inadequate and need to be increased,
2. that such amended targets need to be further increased to take account of the reality that an ambitious target for an overall expansion in housing supply can only be met by significantly expanding the delivery of local authority housing, and
3. that the social housing delivery targets set out in the Dublin City Council Housing Delivery Action Plan should accordingly be and are hereby [doubled].”