O’Devaney Gardens
Dublin City Councillors will tonight (Wednesday) vote on a proposal from the Workers’ Party to ban private, for-profit housing development on Dublin City Council owned lands.
Cllr. Éilis Ryan (Workers’ Party, North Inner City) is proposing the motion, and said:
“Yesterday saw the announcement of a national demonstration in April to end the housing crisis.
“Tonight is an opportunity for us to begin to put words into action. One thing is for sure – giving land we already own, in any way, shape or form, to a private developer to make profit from, does not form part of the solution to the housing crisis.”
She continued:
“The council owns around 120 hectares of land – enough to build 12,000 homes at a reasonably high density. But at the moment, there are 20,000 households on the council’s housing waiting list. In that context, it is ludicrous to allow private developers build housing on public land, which they will then sell at outrageous prices. At the moment we are allowing 70% private housing to be built on much of our land.”
Cllr. Ryan concluded by calling on Sinn Féin councillors to withdraw an amendment which would allow for for-profit, private development if government funding for public housing is not forthcoming, saying:
“The thing about land is that once it’s gone, it’s gone. Nobody wants our land sitting idle, but if we use it for private development now, it’s gone forever. I’m asking my fellow councillors to support the broad consensus which wants our public land to stay in public hands.”
MOTION
Dublin City Council (DCC) recognises the urgency of the housing crisis, with just under 20,000 households now on the city council’s waiting list, and an estimated c. 650 newly-formed households (net) becoming eligible for social housing each year.
The City Council furthermore recognises that land is by definition in fixed supply. The Development Plan estimates approximately 440 hectares of land is zoned and available for residential development within the DCC boundaries.
The City Council notes the following in relation to land availability in this area:
- DCC estimates (Council Questions, October 2017) that it owns approximately 120 hectares of land. Assuming a density of 100 units per hectare (DCC generally uses a range from 60-120 units / hectare), DCC-owned land could provide 12,000 units if used exclusively for public housing.
- This leaves around 320 hectares of land zoned for residential development not owned by DCC. At a density of 100 units per hectare this would yield 32,000 units, delivering around 3,200 units of public housing through Part V requirements.
- Accordingly, if all DCC-owned land were used exclusively for public housing, and all non-DCC-owned land were developed and delivered 10% of units as Part V, the public housing output would still approximately 15,200 units.
Given this shortfall, the city council adopts the following policy in relation to the land within its boundaries:
- That Dublin City Council institute an immediate ban on the use of council-owned land for private, for-profit, housing development – whether this is for rent or purchase.
- That Dublin City Council enter into immediate negotiations with all state bodies, semi-state bodies, and NAMA-appointed receivers, who own or control residential land in the Dublin City Council area, in order to increase the required Part V social housing delivery on those sites, with an initial aim of securing the full use of the land for mixed income public housing.
- That Dublin City Council commits itself to ensuring a mix of incomes on all sites, but that this should be done through the use of innovative not-for-profit housing methods – such as public cost rental.