Conor O’Connell is the Construction Industry Federation’s director of housing, planning and development
As always with housing supply issues it is difficult to predict with certainty.
Several government schemes such as Help to But, First Home Scheme, AHB Cost Rental, Project Tosaigh and in particular the Development Contribution and Water Connection Rebate Scheme have all significantly aided housing supply in 2024.
Without these schemes housing output would not be at their current levels. We expect the new government, once it is formed, will continue to advance and support them but it is clear that greater certainty and funding is required especially in the areas of Cost Rental and infrastructure.
The supply of new homes depends on the supply of more zoned land, more infrastructure, more planning permissions which will allow housebuilders to build the scale of housing required so that we can achieve greater levels of productivity.
Building at scale will also allow us to build more affordable housing that is viable to fund.
However, if we examine each of the main determinants of housing supply including land, infrastructure and planning all are severely constrained.
Land availability
Our land zoning policies are based on the population projections contained in the National Planning Framework adopted in 2018. The projections are out of date and do not match our current population growth.
Thankfully this has been revised and a new target of 50,000 units per annum has been agreed. To achieve this figure of 50,000 units per annum Local Authorities particularly in the high growth regions must be varied to zone more lands in locations that are suitable for residential development.
Infrastructure
Of course, more land is one element of the equation, and it is very important that funding is allocated to Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks to cater for the amount of lands that need servicing or “pipes in the ground”.
Without water, wastewater, roads and other infrastructure we cannot build housing. The funding of infrastructure via
the public capital programme on a multi annual basis is vital.
Planning
Following years of turmoil, a considerable volume of work has been undertaken to reform planning in Ireland.
A new Planning and Development Act has been passed by the Oireachtas but has not yet commenced, new Compact Growth Guidelines have been introduced, the National Planning Framework is being revised with new housing targets and new divisions of the High Court have been installed to deal with judicial reviews.
We believe the number of units stick in both judicial review and the High Court has reduced from 60,000 units to approximately 30,000 units but many members are still expressing frustration with the slow pace of planning.
The figures for the number of units being granted planning in 2024 illustrate the continuing shortage of planning permissions to feed the housing requirement. Less than 20,000 housing units have been granted permission in the first six months of 2024.
We simply cannot deliver more housing if planning permissions are running at this level. It is also indicative of the challenges of securing land and services and relate to the above points on zoning and infrastructure.
In summary to build ‘More Homes for More People’ we must supply more land in the right locations with services and secure enough planning permissions.
