Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht

Current Housing Demand: Discussion (Resumed)

3:05 pm

Photo of Ruth CoppingerRuth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is rather shocking that there is a continued reliance on the private sector to supply housing need. Not only that, it would seem there is an increased shift to the private sector. My question is how it can be considered value for money for the taxpayer that €344 million was paid out, and more the previous year given it was cut last year, rather than using that money to build social and affordable housing.

I have some additional questions with regard to HAP. I note that page 2 states there will be a mandatory direct deduction facility to recover rent contributions so, in other words, people will have to give permission that their social welfare can be taken, even if they do not have rent arrears - that is what I am reading here. I believe that is a shocking invasion of people's privacy. There are many people who go into rent arrears because there is austerity raging out there in society. Rich people do not have such a facility that their rent or mortgages will be deducted by the State and I do not see why council tenants or people on HAP should either. It does not even give a timeframe for the arrears so this will literally be taken. It is also a huge reflection on the social tenant.

How can it be said that HAP is parity, which I believe is the word that was used? The key ingredient missing is security of tenure. If a person has children in a school, that person could lose the property a year later, or if the landlord decides to sell the property, the tenant has to move somewhere else and is on the trail again.

It is pretended that there is something in this for people on the waiting list. People want to live in communities; they do not want to live in transient situations.

The other question is how long the HAP leases will be. I am struggling to see what the difference is between this and the RAS. The RAS is utterly defunct; no landlord wants to go near it. It was mentioned in the second presentation that payments have kept up with increased rents, but they have not. In my own area of Fingal, the maximum payment that one can get is €950. One will not find a house in Fingal for €950; the going rate is €1,300 for such a property. The payments are 50% behind what one could be asked to pay.

I do not agree with the State making those payments to private landlords. My position is that there should rent controls in the Bill. It is a huge opportunity missed that there is not. It is claimed that people move out very quickly, but as the witness said, 65% of people on rent allowance are on it for 18 or more months. It is not just a temporary thing; it can be very long term. I wonder why the Department has chosen to launch a privatisation when no private landlords are available to take part in it. How high will the HAP payments to landlords go? Is there a limit on them? Is that public information? The tenant or the HAP participant has to pay a differential rent amount, so how much is the State paying?

On house building, 6,000 housing units are spoken of to come on stream, but it is disappointing that only 700 of them will be constructed or acquired. RAS is still being looked down on. I cannot see 2,500 properties coming on stream, or 1,200 for leasing. I am not sure whether developers have a stock. The 1,800 refurbished properties are not new stock, so they should not be counted as increased provision. This is a Housing Bill with no houses. That is the disappointing thing for the 100,000 families who are stuck in this situation. It is disappointing to see taxpayers' money being shovelled over to private landlords rather than used for the construction of houses.

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