Sinn Fein is calling on the government to "urgently" address the ongoing housing crisis throughout Ireland.

The party claims the crisis is "getting worse" and has introduced a Social Housing Bill which will provide a "significant increase" in the number of social housing developments.

Spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoin Ó Broin said the Bill seeks to amend the Planning and Development Act 2000 to provide for at least 25% social housing in private residential developments.

The Bill also inserts a new section providing for at least 30% social housing in strategic development zones (SDZs).

-- Advertisement --

He said: "The current provision of up to 10% social housing is not sufficient to meet the growing level of housing need. Government must use every tool at our disposal in order to the speed up the delivery of social and affordable housing units. The Social Housing Bill 2016 aims to do this.

"Former Minister Alan Kelly effectively finished what Fianna Fáil started in 2011 and abolished affordable housing when he introduced his amendments to this Act in 2015.

"The reduction in the Part V social housing requirement to 10% has made the housing crisis worse. It has and will continue to reduce the number of units available for social housing. It will also reduce the level of tenure and income mix in private housing estates which is out of sync with government housing policy.

"The cross party Dáil Housing and Homelessness Committee report recommended that the government should make better use of SDZs to provide for social housing. It also stated that the option of a higher Part V allocation in SDZs should be explored.

"The proposed change would also be good for developers as it would guarantee a significant upfront sale of any development making it easier to access finance."

(CD/LM)