‘Things are changing’, minister tells young Irish people still living at home

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said “things are changing” for young people who want to buy a home or move out of their family home.

He said that “everything is trending in the right direction” in relation to the Government’s response to the housing crisis, citing an increase in planning permissions and completed homes compared to last year.

It comes after figures released by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics body, indicated that around two thirds of adults aged 25-29 are living with their parents, which compares with the European average of 42%.

Mr O’Brien acknowledged that it was “a challenging situation” for young people, and indicated that the 500-euro-a-year tax credit for renters would be increased in the upcoming budget.

He said that according to the latest figures, around 235,000 renters have availed of the tax credit so far.

Mr O’Brien said: “This has been a trend that’s been occurring over the last number of years.

“What I would say to them is, is that things are changing and change is here now. We saw affordable homes for purchase and rent delivered for the first time in a generation last year.

“It is obviously a very challenging situation for them. Many people are staying in college longer, and starting their lives later, but most people I meet, they want the opportunity to be able to buy their own home at an affordable rate.”

He said the Government is projecting that more than 30,000 new homes will be built this year.

“We’re seeing in the first six months of this year planning permissions are up nearly 40%, commencements of new homes being built across all tenures, including rental, up 10% on last year, and actual new homes being completed, over 6% up.

“So it’s going in the right direction. There is frustration there, I acknowledge that,” Mr O’Brien told RTE’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday.

He said that approved housing bodies provide about 50% of social housing in the cities, as well as being involved in delivering affordable homes and cost-rental units.

Mr O’Brien said: “This year in Government, we have a target of 5,500 affordable homes through our approved housing bodies and indeed through our local authorities and the LDA,” adding that there was a target of 9,100 new-build social homes.

He told RTE’s Morning Ireland programme that the half-year figures on how many social and affordable houses have been delivered so far “will be in with us shortly” and published once they are verified.

Mr O’Brien said: “We’ve about 19,000 social homes at various stages in the pipeline, which is a very significant pipeline there.

“We’re seeing through the First Home Scheme hundreds of approvals every month, which is good because we’ve about – when you talk about the first-time buyers sector as well and that segment of people – about 400 new mortgage drawdowns per week so everything is trending in the right direction and we want to see that expedite.”