Taoiseach Simon Harris has said that “it is not right” that social housing delivery has not reduced the number of people who are homeless.
The Fine Gael leader defended the government’s record on housing and said he did not believe two schemes for first-time buyers were inflating house prices.
Mr Harris also said that he expected house prices to fall when around 50,000-60,000 homes a year are being built.
The latest CSO (Central Statistics Office) figures show that house prices increased by 10 per cent in the 12 months to September, up 10.8 per cent in Dublin and 9.4 per cent outside the capital.
On homelessness, the official Department of Housing figures show there were 14,760 people in emergency accommodation at the end of September, including 4,561 children – both record highs.
Asked on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland about the steady increase in the number of homeless figures over the coalition’s term in office, Mr Harris said: “It is not right that we saw the highest social houses since the 1970s last year and that did not make an inroad on homelessness.”
He said the two first-time buyers’ schemes – Help to Buy and First Home – were not inflationary but admitted they were “not perfect”.
“I think what is inflationary is the lack of supply and, obviously, we’ve made a lot of progress on supply.
“Fine Gael is putting forward a €40 billion housing plan to get to 303,000 new homes over the next five years.”
Asked when house prices would become more affordable or fall, he said “as we get to 50,000-60,000 homes a year”.
“We have €40 billion of a plan now to fix the housing situation for once and for all.
“But what I won’t do in this election, being honest, is I won’t pull the rug from under first-time buyers. The supports that are needed now – the Help to Buy and the First Home scheme – while imperfect in some ways, they are necessary to bridge that gap you’re rightly highlighting between the supply being built today and the supply that is needed.
“There are serious choices on the ballot next Friday in relation to housing, serious issues, and I still have serious issues in relation to the Sinn Féin housing plan.”
Asked about Fianna Fáil’s claims that they had turned housing around, Mr Harris said: “If any one political party thinks that the housing crisis can be solved by them alone or by one personality within the government, that really misses the point.
“Housing needs everyone pulling together.”
