€1bn war chest for new Housing Activation Office to unlock stalled sites
The Housing Activation Office will be given a war chest of close to €1bn over the next five years in a bid to unlock stalled projects, writes Craig Hughes.
The Cabinet yesterday approved the creation of the new office, which will consist of between eight and 11 experts tasked with having a ‘laser focus’ on removing barriers to housing on specific sites.
The outgoing chief of the soon-to-be wound-up National Asset Management Agency (Nama), Brendan McDonagh, has been selected as the “preferred” candidate to lead the unit by Minister for Housing James Browne.
However, a decision will be ratified at a meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing tomorrow.
There are tensions between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over Mr McDonagh’s pending appointment, with the name leaked in advance of it being discussed by party leaders.
The Irish Daily Mail revealed last week that there was “surprise” among Fianna Fáil backbenchers about Mr McDonagh’s proposed appointment given his unpopularity with property developers who believed they were wrongly forced into Nama during the crash.
On Monday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he “understands concerns” about reports Mr McDonagh would retain his €430,000 salary, as he would be seconded from his current job.
The salary dwarfs that of the Taoiseach (€248,000) and the secretary-general of the Department of Housing Graham Doyle (€255,000) under whom Mr McDonagh would be working.
Speaking in the Dáil, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald questioned the need for the position and said the job description for what she said was a housing tsar sounded like the job of the minister.
She added: “And what’s to be the role of this new highly paid tsar? Well, from what we’ve heard, he will focus on removing roadblocks to housing construction, to getting houses built more quickly, to speeding up housing delivery.
“In other words, the main responsibilities of the Minister for Housing. A very expensive job-share.”
Ms McDonald told Mr Martin it was clear his Government had “no confidence” in Mr Browne to do his job and described the proposed salary of €430,000 as “a slap in the face for working people who are hit with rip-off bill after rip-off bill and who struggle to make it to the end of the week”.
Ms McDonald said the “new cushy job” was “part and parcel of the same broken Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policies that landed us in this mess in the first place”.
She added: “So, as house prices, rents, homelessness all continue to rise, and as your Government misses its inadequate housing targets year after year, your next move, your next big idea, is to appoint another bureaucrat on an eye-watering salary. It truly beggars belief.”
The Taoiseach insisted there will be no additional cost to the taxpayer as Mr McDonagh is already getting a public service salary.
Social Democrats housing spokesman Rory Hearne said the move was coming at the same time as the Government was postponing the introduction of a living wage.
Speaking on the RTÉ News at One, the Housing Minister said the new unit will be tasked with “identifying viable sites and seeing why they are not being built on”.
Mary Lou McDonald questioned the need for the position and said the job description for what she said was a housing tsar sounded like the job of the minister.
Mr Browne said it “could really help to deliver homes”, and the expert team will be seconded from utility companies.
He added: “It’s about boots on the ground.”
Mr Browne insisted it would be different to the Land Development Agency, which has spent years identifying and acquiring State-owned lands for development, insisting the new unit will be focused on removing “obstacles” to development for sites.
Photo: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie
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