Updated 20:05

The Housing Minister has moved to defend the Budget after charities warned it does not contain the actions required to address the crises in housing and homelessness.

The Minister for Finance announced a number of measures aimed at tackling the crises this afternoon - with the allocation of €2.3bn to the State's housing programme for 2019.

Minster Donohoe said Government spending on housing in 2019 would be 26% higher than last year - with the total spend over the four years to the end of 2019 at €6.6bn.

However opposition parties and homeless charities voiced their disappointment with the plans - warning that the Budget is not the game changer required to address the housing crisis.

Housing

This evening, Minister Eoghan Murphy said 10,000 new social homes will come online next year and claimed 5,000 people will leave homelessness.

He said funding of €300m has been provided for affordable housing over the next three years.

He defended the Budget over claims it focuses too much on emergency accommodation in the Budget, instead of new homes.

“We are playing catch-up but we are catching up when we look at the numbers,” he said.

“25,000 new places to live next year is incredibly significant.

“10,000 new council homes is a very big number and we are going to deliver it.

“But it is very important that until those homes for everyone, we have enough supports in place for emergency accommodation.”

He said the 10,000 new homes would be provided through a mixture of new builds, acquisitions and new long-term leases. 

Homebuilding

Following the announcement this afternoon, Focus Ireland warned that the measures fall far short of what is needed to tackle the crises.

The organisation's Wayne Stanley said too much focus was put on emergency accommodation instead of building homes.

"Essentially the Government is saying 'we know that the homeless crisis is going to continue and we are just going to have to double down and wait it out,' he said.

"It is not the game changer that we were promised." 

Missed opportunity

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the Government had failed to deliver a housing budget, despite all the promises.

"There was a big play by Fianna Fáil in terms of an affordable housing scheme," he said. "But in fact the actual extra spend next year on housing next year will be a paltry €14m."

"What does that mean for regular people?

"It means about 490 extra social houses and it means a very, very small number of genuinely affordable homes.

He said the housing provisions in the budget are "actually more of the same failed policies that got us into the housing crisis that we are in at the minute."

Social housing

The Simon Communities welcomed the €2.3bn funding pledge for 2019, but said it was disappointing that there was no increase in the social housing target.  

Continued reliance on the private rental sector to provide social housing to people. There was no mention of an increase for HAP limits and this is a concern. Only 6% of properties on the market were affordable for people who are depending on Rent Supplement/HAP #Budget2019.

— Simon Communities (@SimonCommunity) October 9, 2018

Funding

Minister Donohoe said the €2.3bn funding would include an allocation of €1.25bn to deliver 10,000 new social homes in 2019.

He also announced an extra €121m for the Housing Assistance Payment to provide for over 16,760 additional tenancies next year.

As a direct response to the homelessness crisis, he said he was allocating an extra €60m in capital funding to fund emergency accommodation.

He also announced an increase of €30m for homelessness services, bringing the total for 2019 to €146m. 

Following negotiations with Fianna Fáil, he also announced  a €100 million Serviced Sites Fund to support local authorities in bringing forward lands for subsidised, more affordable housing.

He said the Government intends to increase the funding to €310 million over the next three years - with the aim of delivering around 6,000 affordable homes.

He also announced the restoration of 100% mortgage interest relief for landlords who carry out improvements and repairs on their properties.

'Housing budget'

It comes after Fianna Fáil said it would use its influence over the Government to ensure the budget was a 'housing budget.'

This afternoon the party's finance spokesperson Michael McGrath said it secured a €300m affordable housing package that will provide thousands of homes for eligible first-time buyers over the next four years.

He said the homes would be sold at up to €50,000 below the cost of building the home subject to a maximum discount of 40% of the market value.

Landlord's budget

We were told this was going to be a “housing budget” but it is anything but. #budget19 is a budget for developers and landlords. It’s not a budget for the nearly 10,000 people who are homeless or those caught up in the rental crisis. @JanOSullivanTD #Budget2019 #RaiseTheRoof pic.twitter.com/8r9UXCPOfp

— The Labour Party (@labour) October 9, 2018

Meanwhile, the Labour Party warned that the provisions would benefit developers and landlords - but would do little to help the nearly 10,000 people in emergency accommodation or those caught up in the rental crisis.

The party's housing spokesperson Jan O'Sullivan said the provisions are "utterly lacking in ambition."

"This is disastrous," she said.

"We had proposed significant funding for social and affordable housing, but it is clear that the Government does not care," she said.

"It is clear that the Government priorities are towards the private sector rather than towards public led housing for both people who are on social lists but also for people who can't afford on their income to buy or to rent.

"It is really disappointing and clearly the Government didn't listen to the thousands of people on the streets last week."

Pressure

The Peter McVerry Trust welcomed the measures, with CEO Pat Doyle saying he believed they could help  "ease the pressure on the housing system."

"The minister was very clear in prioritising increased spending in the areas of homelessness, social and affordable housing above other areas with very significant increases in housing targets," he said.

"This is a very important commitment that means organisations like Peter McVerry Trust (PMV) can do more to respond to the needs of vulnerable people in our society.”

He said the €60m increase in spending on homelessness would allow organisations like PMV to increase the increase the availability of emergency accommodation around the country.

Rental business

Meanwhile, the Irish Property Owners Association (IPOA) said the restoration of mortgage interest relief to 100% was a small start" in terms of encouraging private landlords to invest in the sector.

"We have repeatedly told the Government that providing private rental property is a business," said IPOA Chairman, Stephen Faughnan. 

"Like every normal business, landlords have to cover costs and make it worthwhile to continue. 

"I hope this small start will represent a real decision to make it possible for landlords to continue playing a full part in providing quality and affordable accommodation to the 20% of the population living in rental properties."