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Dublin city councilors gave a strong mandate to the council administration Monday night to abandon plans for private sector development of public lands.
They voted 48 to 14 against the 14 million euro sale of a site on Oscar Traynor Road in Santry, vacant for 40 years, to Glenveagh Homes to build 428 private homes, 253 social and 172 affordable homes.
Fine Gael councilors, along with three members of Fianna Fáil and a member of the Labor Party voted in favor of the agreement.
In January 2017, councilors gave the council an even stronger mandate to pursue the same deal for 50% private, 30% social and 20% affordable housing on the site.
At the time, 53 of the 63 councilors voted in favor, including Sinn Féin, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labor and the Green Party, with People Before Profit and the left-wing Independents voting against.
While there have been local elections in the meantime, it is still a sea change for most councilors and begs the question, what do councilors want for the site and what can be achieved?
Labor Alison Gilliland, chair of the council’s housing committee, on Monday proposed a motion to write a new plan for “public housing” at the site, and to seek an urgent meeting with the Housing Minister to secure sanction. and financing.
The motion referred to St Michael’s Estate in Inchicore, where a 70% rental cost and 30% social housing pilot scheme is underway, but Gilliland said this was not necessarily the form public housing will take in the site, as “we have to consider the demographics of the area.”
Changed circumstances
Gilliland voted in favor of the 50/30/20 model in 2017, but said circumstances have changed. “Affordability for tenants has become a particular issue ever since. The state has to step in and provide affordable rental solutions. “
The council’s housing chief, Brendan Kenny, told councilors Monday night that Glenveagh was willing to sell 50 percent of the private homes to the council for affordable rent, but Gilliland said this was not acceptable.
“We want to break away from the developers, this would have left the developer in the driver’s seat.”
Independent councilman Cieran Perry, one of the few councilors who voted against the deal in 2017 and this week, welcomed the change of mind from his colleagues.
“The very fact that we have such a monumental change in housing policy, that public housing is now seen as the way forward, was one of the best moments of my time on the council.”
Perry said he had “no illusions” that the money to develop the site would be found in the council coffers, but noted that interest rates on loans were historically low and the European Investment Bank was willing to lend.
He believed that it would be feasible for the site to remain on public property, with a “cross-subsidy” of rent from those with higher incomes to those with less.
“I think there will be a great demand for this, and we will get the necessary revenue mix,” he said, adding that the minister should be able to “expedite acquisitions” so that the scheme is “ready to use” in two years.
Fine Gael councilor Naoise O Muirí, who voted for the city council’s plan both times, said she couldn’t say whether she would support the new public housing proposal because she didn’t know what it was about.
“When I see a proposal in the official city council document, I will evaluate it, but there is no proposal. At the moment there is only a motion of “castles in the air” to meet with the minister. With the scheme that was proposed, we could have pioneered in 2021 ”.
Unclear
Brendan Kenny, the council’s head of housing, said it was also unclear what councilors were looking for in terms of public housing.
“I don’t think what they want is fully developed. If it is the same model as St Michael’s, with a 70 percent rental cost and a 30 percent social cost, or something more. What we had was a high quality scheme and I don’t think we will get a better scheme, or a better value scheme ”.
He said he would work with councilors to present new plans for the site, but cautioned that loans from Europe or the Housing Finance Agency have yet to be repaid.
“We would be totally dependent on sufficient rents and people paying their rents, something we don’t have a great track record for,” he said.
He said there was too much emphasis on the local authority being the home developer.
“People never ask us who built the house, they just want a place to live.”
A spokesman for Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said he took note of the councilors’ decision and would seek a report from the council’s chief executive, Owen Keegan.
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