Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There was a conscious strategy to develop a private rented sector. Section 23 tax breaks were used to encourage a private landlord sector. Local authorities were responsible by accepting levies instead of social housing units from developers and they attempted to maximise funding through levies throughout the country. Absurd planning decisions resulted in a mass of ghost estates which are completely unusable when it comes to meeting today's housing needs. It is an absolute scandal that we have arrived at the situation we face today. The reliance on the private sector alone has led to a disaster.

There is a severe shortage of suitable housing for rent in urban areas. This is particularly the case in my constituency of Dublin South-Central. Now private landlords are responding to this shortage by rack-renting. In the past three months, rents in the Dublin 8 area have increased by 10%. The average rent for a house in Drimnagh is now €1,200 per month. Landlords are refusing to rent to people on social welfare. A virtual apartheid is under way and in the newspapers property is advertised with a requirement of work references only. Potential renters have to provide a work reference which means a person who is on the waiting list and who is not working will not be accepted. Thousands of people have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and they cannot even ring up the place for access to accommodation. Otherwise landlords are blatantly stating that no rent supplement candidates need apply. That is the situation people are facing in Dublin. People have been forced out of private rented accommodation because rents have gone up. Landlords can increase rent once a year according to the rules and regulations. People have been told there will be an increase of €150. Many of these people are already topping up the rent. At the moment the rent is approximately €1,000 or €1,025 and these people are paying extra through a second agreement with the landlord. Now, the landlords are cheekily pushing that up again and forcing these people out of their accommodation and into a homeless situation.

The rental accommodation scheme is a disaster in Dublin. In one situation a family moved to Galway and gave their house in Drimnagh to the local authority for the rental accommodation scheme. A young family is living there now but the family from Galway was forced to come back to Dublin because of a job situation. However, they cannot move into their house because that young girl has nowhere to go and there are no rental accommodation scheme properties in Dublin for her and her two children. Now, the family cannot access their home because we have advised this girl to over-hold and that is because she has nowhere to go except for the streets. This is typical of the madness going on at the moment.

The situation for buy-to-lets is equally unsatisfactory. Many people who bought second or third properties are going through the process of their houses being repossessed. Why does the Government not intervene and take those houses? Many of these people simply want to see the back of these houses and have no wish to deal with the issue. Why does the Government not intervene in the buy-to-let repossession process, take them back and let those people walk away from the situation? Then, at the least we would have some housing stock in the city. Far more could be done.

This debate is simply not good enough. There should be an urgent meeting of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, which should examine the needs and what is in place. There should be a task force made up of local authorities to examine the needs. We need land. The five main local authorities include those in Cork, Kildare, Dublin city and Galway. We know where the need is. These five authorities have 50% of the housing crisis. The matter should be dealt with. These areas should be targeted and we should sit down and examine the situation in an emergency meeting the week after next. That is what we should be doing rather than debating it in the House.

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