Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to come back in on this issue. In recent weeks the Government launched a €68 million local authority home building initiative. I welcome this, but as I said previously, this needs to be looked at again because there is a serious housing crisis, particularly in terms of social housing. Other new schemes under way with the support of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government include a €35 million investment in housing for people with a disability, a €30 million investment to improve the energy efficiency of local authority housing, and a €10 million kick-start fund to complete remaining unfinished housing developments. I fully appreciate these developments. I am aware, however, that for some council tenants there is up to a two year waiting list for simple jobs, including the case of one elderly woman who is waiting to have a shower unit installed. This needs to be addressed. I welcome the fact some NAMA units are being returned to the housing stock. For example, in my area of Inchicore, 36 units, known as Tyrone Court, will shortly come into the ownership of Circle Housing.

I want to raise the serious issue of rent arrears with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan. While this is perhaps not her area, she may be able to intervene with the city council. There are huge rent arrears at present and, in some cases, people are being transferred into new units despite having arrears. There is €42 million currently outstanding for Dublin City Council housing alone, and this would go a long way towards refurbishing flat complexes and houses. Given the Minister of State's interaction with the council, she may be able to raise this issue at a higher level.

In 2012, the voluntary and co-operative housing sector managed approximately 27,000 homes. Many organisations, such as Circle Housing, Napco Housing and Clúid, have developed a real rapport with their tenants and provided a good example of tenancy behaviour. In regard to negotiations around rent in particular, their work has really improved how people are living and how they treat the property in which they live. I welcome the new development at Thornton Heights, on the former St. Michael's estate lands, which will have tenants going in within the next month.

While the social housing situation is improving slowly with these new measures introduced by the Government, the problem of homelessness appears to be getting worse. I do not need to state the figures and I will cut to the chase. Housing is key to resolving the homelessness problem, but we also need to examine the reasons behind why people become homeless, such as poverty, unemployment and family disputes. We also need to put names and faces on the people entering into homelessness in our society to find out who they are, where they come from and their needs. Homelessness is a huge issue, not only in this city but throughout the country, and it needs to be addressed urgently. I know the Minister of State will do her utmost, but I believe many of the agencies need to be re-examined to see what resources they are providing to the many homeless people. I believe a number of agencies are duplicating services and, if that could be looked at, it would go a long way to reducing the number of homeless.

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