Minister missing as housing tsar plan flounders
Minister missing as housing tsar plan flounders - The Labour Party
- No more half-baked housing hacks
Labour’s Housing Spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD has today called for the Housing Activation Office to be established on a statutory basis, as recommended by the Housing Commission report, warning that the Government risks repeating its mishandling of the so-called Housing Tsar. Speaking in the Dáil today Deputy Sheehan urged the Minister for Housing to come out of hiding and provide clarity on how the new CEO post will be underpinned, resourced and held accountable.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“There’s nothing wrong with the idea of a Housing Activation Office – in fact, it’s a good one. But unless it’s placed on a statutory footing, with clear responsibilities and a strong mandate, it risks being another flash-in-the-pan initiative from a Government long out of ideas. We’ve already seen how the Housing Tsar has been fudged.
“We can’t afford to let that happen again. The Housing Commission report was crystal clear: to make real progress in unlocking land and streamlining delivery, the Housing Activation Office must be independent, authoritative, and set up on a statutory base. Instead, the Government appears to be cobbling together yet another temporary workaround, with little transparency and no long-term planning.
“At a time when housing supply remains far behind where it needs to be, and institutional delays are costing us thousands of homes, we cannot allow the Housing Activation Office to become just another missed opportunity. A real activation strategy needs a real foundation – and that means statutory authority, not a press release and a shrug from the Minister.
“Government must act on the Housing Commission’s advice and bring forward legislation to establish the Housing Activation Office on a statutory basis. This matters because we simply cannot create another half-baked housing body that doesn’t deliver.”