Richard Boyd Barrett: Says Policy 'Facilitates Greed' Behind Housing Crisis
Richard Boyd Barrett spoke on 5 Dec 2019 about the housing and homelessness crisis, arguing government policy has facilitated the greed of landlords and property speculators and outlining a set of alternative measures. He presented demands including a large council housing programme, an immediate rent freeze, rent controls, and new taxes and powers to tackle vacant properties.
Main accusation
The speaker blamed the housing and homelessness scandal on government policy that he said has facilitated "the greed of vultures, landlords, property speculators and property hoarders." He noted volunteers and protesters who work nightly with homeless people had asked for the debate and that People Before Profit and Solidarity requested the debate on their behalf.
Housing targets and public land use
He proposed councils should deliver 20,000 public and affordable housing units per year for the next five years on public land. He demanded an immediate halt to any sale of public land via PPPs, the LDA or other privatisation mechanisms and said NAMA's remaining land assets and cash should be deployed for affordable housing.
Rent and tenancy measures
He called for an immediate rent freeze and an end to evictions on the grounds of sale, which he identified as a main cause of homelessness. He also urged the introduction of genuine rent controls to keep rents affordable and recommended temporarily raising income thresholds for social housing to include ordinary working people.
Taxes, compulsory purchase and funding
He advocated a punitive, escalating vacant site and property tax to deter speculation and compel empty properties back into use, along with aggressive compulsory purchase powers for local authorities. He proposed at least an extra €2 billion a year for social and affordable housing, to be raised via a levy on the profits of land hoarders and speculators and by closing loopholes, with the money to be used through the strategic investment fund.
Support for alternatives and vulnerable people
He supported more resources for co-ops and AHBs, increasing the part 5 requirement on private developments to at least 20% taken up front in land, not as a substitute for council housing. He stressed that building council housing would generate state income and called for real supports for people in homeless accommodation, particularly children, to prevent abuse and neglect.
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Minister, so apologies for being late, but that protest was called by the people who you see out in the streets helping the homeless night in, night out for the last number of years on a voluntary basis because they're so appalled by the escalating housing and homelessness crisis and they have presented proposals which I hope the government will listen to. In a word, the scandal of the housing and homelessness crisis results from one central factor in government policy and that is that your policy has facilitated the greed of vultures, landlords, property speculators and property hoarders. That is at the core of this crisis. You say that we criticise you but we don't have alternatives. That is a dishonest claim but today we want to set the record straight and it is worth noting, Minister, that it was People Before Profit and Solidarity on behalf of the protesters who asked for this debate today prior to any confidence votes on housing solutions. We asked for the debate on behalf of the protesters. We asked for the debate on behalf of the protesters. What are our solutions? We presented them many times but I'll tell you them. We think the councils of this country need to provide 20,000 public and affordable housing units per year, every year, for the next five years on public land. We believe you need to stop immediately any sale of public land which should be used for public and affordable housing through PPPs, LDA or any other privatisation mechanism. We believe that NAMA's remaining land assets and its cash should all be deployed to the provision of affordable housing and that affordable housing should be genuinely affordable to those on average incomes. We believe that further in addition to that, not as a substitute to that, we should give more resources to co-ops, AHBs and increase the part 5 requirement on private developments to at least 20% and that should be taken up front in land to build ourselves rather than waiting for the developers to decide when they are going to build. We believe there should be an immediate rent freeze. There should be an immediate end to evictions on the grounds of sale which is the main reason people are going into homelessness. We believe there should be genuine rent controls as there are in the rest of Europe in order to pin rents down to levels that are affordable. We believe there should be a punitive and escalating vacant site and property tax to prevent speculation and hoarding by property developers and bring empty property back into use. We believe there should be aggressive compulsory purchase powers used by the local authorities to take over land and property that is lying vacant. We believe there should be a constitutional right to housing for everybody. We believe there should be a minimum of an extra €2 billion a year put into the provision of social and affordable housing. That money should be raised via levy on the profits of the land hoarders and speculators, closing down the loopholes that you have given to those speculators, using them as cash, using the money in the strategic investment fund. We would like to point out that if we build this council housing it would actually generate income for the state rather than the $700 million that is going out in RAS, HAPS and other leasing arrangements payments. We believe in addition as temporary measures, not as a central measure, you should raise the income thresholds for social housing to the levels of ordinary working people who are currently being lopped off the list. That will give you the social mix you need and we believe there should be real supports given to people in homeless accommodation, particularly children, so they do not suffer the child abuse and neglect they are currently suffering. Thank you.
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