Revised National Planning Framework underestimating housing need – Eoin Ó Broin TD

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has said that the revised National Planning Framework is underestimating housing need.

The Dublin Mid-West TD’s comments were made in advance of the publication of the final revised draft National Planning Framework.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“The revised Draft Planning Framework was published in November. A central element of the NPF is the Housing Needs Demand Assessment. This estimated the total number of new homes required to meet housing need for the duration of the plan. This estimate then determined the volume of land to be zoned for housing by councils and the government housing plan targets.

“The original 2018 NPF chronically underestimated the level of housing need in the state. As a consequence, two successive government housing plans failed to address the volume of housing required.

“The first revised draft of the NPF was published in November. Like its predecessor, it has underestimated total housing need. That draft estimated that there was a requirement for an annual average of 50,000 homes a year for the duration of the plan. This significantly underestimates the scale of unmet demand that currently exists within the state.

“The government has repeatedly refused to commission an independent assessment of unmet demand. Thankfully, the Housing Commission provided an estimate of the housing deficit of between 212,500 to 256,000 homes.

“Meeting emerging demand and unmet demand would, based on the Housing Commission report, require an average of at least 60,000 new homes a year. It would also require more than doubling the output of social and affordable housing to an average of more than 20,000 public homes a year.

“The Housing Commission report called for emergency action to front load dealing with the housing deficit. That would require hitting the 60,000 new homes target by 2027, and the scaling-up of social and affordable homes.

“None of these key Housing Commission recommendations were reflected in the first revised NPF. Nor are they contained in the revised housing targets agreed by the government last October.

“On this basis, the revised National Planning Framework looks set to repeat the same mistakes as its earlier version.

“This will mean the government will continue to underestimate housing need and their targets, both for overall new homes and specifically for social and affordable housing, will not be sufficient to address the deepening housing crisis.”