Danny Healy-Rae urges tax cuts to unlock vacant houses
Danny Healy-Rae spoke about the housing crisis and argued landlords are being unfairly blamed while many houses lie vacant. He urged tax changes and incentives to bring empty properties back into the rental market and called for more local authority building and planning reform.
He highlighted a large number of idle properties and said owners currently have little incentive to let them. He recalled previous suggestions to alter taxation on vacant homes, mentioning a prior proposal of a 50% tax on small receipts from a house and later calling to reduce tax to incentivize letting empty houses.
He said planning permission rules are blocking people from building their own homes in rural areas, noting in Kerry "four or five miles out" people cannot get permission. He described Kilami as having been in a pressure zone for over seven years, with houses scarce and very expensive.
He argued local authorities need more autonomy to build more homes, saying that councils once could respond quickly when people were homeless but that the facility to do so no longer exists. He insisted that more house-building is required to address shortages.
He warned that rising figures reflect that the State is housing more immigrants as well as its own population, and expressed concern that no adequate provision is being made for that increased demand. He maintained this trend adds pressure to an already scarce housing market.
Vacant houses and tax proposals
He highlighted a large number of idle properties and said owners currently have little incentive to let them. He recalled previous suggestions to alter taxation on vacant homes, mentioning a prior proposal of a 50% tax on small receipts from a house and later calling to reduce tax to incentivize letting empty houses.
Planning permission and rural pressure
He said planning permission rules are blocking people from building their own homes in rural areas, noting in Kerry "four or five miles out" people cannot get permission. He described Kilami as having been in a pressure zone for over seven years, with houses scarce and very expensive.
Local authority capacity to build
He argued local authorities need more autonomy to build more homes, saying that councils once could respond quickly when people were homeless but that the facility to do so no longer exists. He insisted that more house-building is required to address shortages.
Immigration and housing supply
He warned that rising figures reflect that the State is housing more immigrants as well as its own population, and expressed concern that no adequate provision is being made for that increased demand. He maintained this trend adds pressure to an already scarce housing market.
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Transcript
I'm glad to get the opportunity to talk again about housing, and it is a crisis, and everyone recognizes that it is a crisis. And I'm not one bit happy that the landlords or house owners are being blamed for this in the rental sector. And every side seems to be pointing at the fellows that own the houses and they're trying to rent them out. And I want to point out, I don't have any household in my own house. There are other ways. There are a lot of vacant houses, Minister, out there. And I've asked you before to do something, to have the tax, or do something with it anyway, 50% tax for someone that gets 1,000 euros maybe for a house. And there are so many of them idle. There's no incentivization to go into that. And then they're afraid they can't get their house back. Planning permission for those who wish to build their own house. I feel that we, in Kerry, we've been left behind with this and badly and hardly hit with this urban-generated pressure class, which deprives many young fellas, four or five miles out, that never came out from the town, that they can't get permission to build their own house. Security. Kilami has been in a pressure zone. This pressure zone thing, Kilami, has been in a pressure zone for over seven years now. And I can honestly tell you, houses are terribly scarce there. Houses are terribly expensive there. And I don't see that this is going to help the housing section at all. We must build more houses. Give the local authorities more autonomy to build more houses. Long ago, if people were homeless, the county council would bring out the amount of homes. That facility is no longer there for the site, you could get it placed in a couple of days. The other thing that has to be remembered, the figures are going up, yes. Every day they're going up. But we have to remember that we're housing more immigrants and housing more than our own. And I fear no provision is being made for that. And, again, I say to you, reduce the tax and incentivize people to let their vacant houses out for rent. Because that's what's needed. Take those houses that are empty. And I said before, an empty house, a vacant house, is providing no tax to the government, nothing. And take less tax for it. And do the same around the country with the other landlords. Because there'd be way more interest in letting out their house. Good morning, Dr. Michael Cowell.