Modular homes and subdivision
Deputy Gogarty argued for rules allowing modular homes and house subdivisions to help families and older people. The Taoiseach agreed in principle, said some changes can be done by regulation and others need legislation, and clarified it is for families rather than investor-landlords.
I would like to visit the issue of people being able to build modular homes in their gardens and subdivide them because it is a hugely important issue. It is definitely not a panacea for the housing crisis but it will help in certain situations. For example, yesterday I had a gentleman on to me worried that the legislation will not cover an area where the person who has a big enough house and wants to live on the garden and rent out the house. There are a lot of older people who want to live in the ground floor of their houses and then let someone else move into the upstairs of the house because they do not want to leave an area. They are close to their local churches, shops, etc. Where I grew up in the 1980s there were ten shops within a mile from where I lived. Now there is just one. That shows the population has declined. People have grown up and left the area. In line with national density regulations, we need to improve the density in areas to have a critical mass for services. Will the Taoiseach prioritise this Bill, so it passes through all Stages by the summer?
Comment on this
Yes, we can. My understanding is that it is done by regulation but we can. There will be some legislative changes needed. I agree 100% with what the Deputy said. In fact you can now subdivide a house as well under this planning statement. Equally, you can do what the Deputy said in terms of people creating a unit for themselves and renting out the house. There is no question that in many of the older housing estates, the density has gotten very low. Whereas when we grew up, there was five or six people per family - in some cases, there was eight or nine people per family - but all of that has changed dramatically. There is further thinking to be done on how we maximise the capacity of the existing housing stock in our society. I think there is a bit of an iceberg here that we are at the tip of. In my view, we have not really properly explored it. The rent a room scheme does help in regard in terms of incentivising the use of buildings where there might be just one person in a three-bedroom house and so on.
Comment on this
Yes, for families but not investor-landlords.