The party's spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has said that in Government Sinn Féin's Alternative Housing Plan said that this can be achieved by "introducing policies that reduce delays, risk and cost to builders and developers".
In a statement the Dublin Mid-West TD said: "In Government, Sinn Féin wants a new deal for private residential builders and developers. We want private builders and developers to build more high-quality homes at more moderate prices. This can be achieved by introducing policies that reduce delays, risk and cost to builders and developers. Sinn Féin's housing plan would see home ownership increase. This would be for the first time in a generation.
"Our affordable homes plan would see 25,000 genuinely affordable homes to purchase for working people, at prices between €250,000 and €300,000 – delivered over five years. In addition, our activation measures for the private residential sector would see 115,000 private homes for purchase delivered in a term of Government, three times more that the current Government will have achieved over five years.
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"We would achieve this by supporting the residential development community to build more high-quality homes, while removing much of the risk and delay that pushes house prices up. This means ending the delays in planning by significantly increasing staff in Councils and An Bord Pleanála, and expanding the planning and environmental panel in the courts to five full time judges. It means providing builders with lower cost finance and infrastructural services.
"It means ensuring developers with zoned land and planning permissions activate their developments, or risk losing them to residential developers who will activate sites with zoning and permission. It means providing builders and developers with a bespoke support package of zoning, master planning, low-cost finance and site servicing for higher density developments in our cities and towns. It means better coordinating the delivery of critical infrastructure such as water, transport and public services with both public and private residential development.
"And it means using the states own development capital more efficiently to get a better deal for the taxpayer, while increasing the overall volume of new public and private sector homes being built. All of this will increase private residential development while reducing cost to developers and ultimately to buyers.
"This will allow us to phase out inflationary demand side subsidies such as help to buy which have pushed up house prices locking many people out of home ownership. We will also end wasteful expensive taxpayer funded direct subsidies for developers such as the Local Infrastructure Housing Development Fund, Croi Cónaithe Cities and the STAR investment initiative. These schemes don’t work, then need to be closed and the uncommitted funding diverted into the delivery of genuinely affordable homes for working people.
"Sinn Féin’s Alternative Housing Plan will deliver a new deal for private residential builders and developers. "This will not only increase homeownership overall, but we will widen the range of income earners that can afford to buy a home. It means bringing home ownership back into reach for working people on modest and above modest incomes."
