Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Friday, 9 November 2012

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives

12:15 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the groups for coming in and for all their work. I could not agree more with the comments. As far as I am concerned, there are two big issues in this country which are directly related - the banking crisis and the consequences of it. They are two sides of the same coin. Profiteering in the housing sector caused the crash and left us in this mess and we are in an incredible position of having hundreds of thousands of empty houses and a simultaneous unprecedented housing crisis. It is beyond comprehension.

As the witnesses note, we are dependent on the private sector, which operates for profit and not to provide housing for those who need it. If landlords cannot get the rents they want, they will not house people. I am at the end of my wits with this issue as no issue is more common in the clinic than people in trouble with housing. I am pulling my hair out about it. Will the witnesses elaborate on the June policy shift referred to, as it seems to be the most retrograde move possible, with the exception of the positive facet of transferring rent supplement to local authorities? I agree that the transfer makes sense and should mean that people will move to differential rent, allowing them to work, etc. That is a positive development but from every other angle, moving away from the direct provision of social housing by the local authorities makes no sense.

I should stress that this is not a criticism of the voluntary housing associations, and it seems they do not have the capacity to fill the gap. There is a role for voluntary housing associations but the gap must be filled by the State through local authorities and the direct provision of social housing. Such action would go towards solving the housing crisis and ultimately produce a significant saving for the Exchequer by diminishing the amount going towards rent allowance.

Mr. Allen mentioned that some people may hold their nose ideologically on the rent issue. I do not know if that was directed at me but I agree with his comments. Not only should we leave the thresholds as they are but we should raise them, particularly in areas where they do not add up. The idea that accommodation like a flat can be found in Dún Laoghaire or south Dublin for a single person for €425 is a joke that is driving people to homelessness. We must raise those thresholds, although everybody agrees that would be unsustainable financially over the longer term, so we must be able to move away from that process-----

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