Planning and infrastructure barriers, not labour shortages, undermine housing delivery

Planning and infrastructure barriers, not labour shortages, are undermining housing delivery, the Construction Industry Federation has said in response to today’s ESRI quarterly economic commentary.

Conor O’Connell, Director of Housing and Planning with the Construction Industry Federation, said: “Housing targets are not being met due to significant and ongoing infrastructural capacity and planning capacity issues that housebuilders are facing. It is completely misguided to point to labour capacity as one of the reasons why housing targets are not being met, and it is distracting from the policy direction that needs to be taken to increase housing supply.

“To increase housing supply, the following is crucial:

1. Increase the supply of zoned land through a variation process to the existing County Development Plans
2. Increase the supply of funding allocations for utility providers and put the pipes in the ground
3. Increase the supply of planning permissions to housebuilders
4. Decrease the regulatory and taxation burden on housebuilding to make building apartments and houses more viable

“Labour capacity is simply not an issue. The construction industry has the workforce, skills and proven ability to scale up to deliver on housing and infrastructure. What’s lacking currently is certainty and confidence in a reliable pipeline of work. The government needs to urgently unlock land, increase planning efficiency and provide multiannual funding for critical infrastructure to enable housing and growth.”

Read the recent CIF/ Irish Home Builders’ Association Submission to the National Housing Plan.