Campaigner says target for housing so 'unattainable' it's 'made of pixie dust'
A housing campaigner has warned that there is no chance of the Government meeting its 2030 housing targets even if it implements advice from developers.
And the head of one construction company called on ministers to scrap the 13.5% VAT rate on new homes or risk missing the target of 300,000 new homes by 2030 by as much as half.
Housing campaigner David Hall said that even if the Government took on a 'radical' role in housing, the target would still be unattainable because it is 'made of pixie dust'.
He added: 'These targets are imaginary and magical. Born from Disneyland, they have no bearing to reality and there's no drive or money to meet these targets. Pic: georgeclerk/Getty Images
'I'd be in favour of removing VAT, but then you must put a cap in relation to a profit margin. There are set prices in healthcare and other parts of procurement, and we have a housing emergency. Scrapping the VAT is fine, but that doesn't mean that the developers can add on that 13.5%.'
Stephen Garvey, chief of developer Glenveagh, has backed tax breaks for developers, telling the Business Post there was a need for further co-operation between the Government's Housing, Finance and Expenditure departments. Mr Hall said he would be 'in favour of anything that corrects the current emergency', including tax breaks for developers, but that the Government's words and actions were not matching up.
He added: 'The developers say they can't sell the apartments they build, and construction of apartments has dropped off massively. There's no money, and I would welcome a clarification from the Department of Housing as to what instructions it's been given from the Department of Public Expenditure around money. Overview of a new housing development. Pic: Getty Images
'Anyone like me in housing looking for funding from local government will tell you it's very difficult. It's much tighter and a lot less than it was before.'
Apartment development dropped significantly in 2024, while the construction of new homes has fallen by almost 90% to 3,945 in the first four months of this year. Mr Hall said: 'Every single part of the system is now going against the delivery of houses. I would be shocked if we reached 25,000 houses this year.'
The current Housing for All target for 2025 is 41,000 new homes. Mr Hall said the State should take equity in properties and release those slowly over a period of time 'to give people a helping hand in a deposit', but added that State intervention also needs to be balanced.
He explained: 'We don't want developers to take advantage of it. But it's not NASA. If we can send people to the Moon, we can come up with a formula that works for everyone.
'The State taking an equity in properties which are available at the moment on a small scale hasn't had much of a take-up.
'The Government making announcements is like the head of an octopus waving its head, and unless the tentacles, which are the local authorities, do something, the policy utterances are utterly irrelevant.'
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