Mr. Bob Jordan:

Regarding immediate measures, rent supplement limits must be changed. They are a very blunt instrument covering wide geographical areas. There is plenty of information available on localised rents so it can be targeted at particularly high-demand areas. The issue of chasing the market is real, and rent supplement limits must be reviewed in parallel with introducing rent controls. The model we have put forward is that people pay open market rents at the beginning, but that their security would be protected, as it is in the legislation. This means they would face predictable rent increases over at least a four-year period.

The National Economic and Social Council, NESC, report stated that we needed 200,000 social housing units by the end of 2012. Given that we have only 150,000 units, we need to catch up. The average annual need for housing in Ireland is approximately 25,000 units We need approximately one third of those for social housing purposes. Our submission stated that 6,000 were needed and it needs to happen soon. Regarding immediate measures using the existing supply, we need to bring voids into use as quickly as possible. This is a bugbear for everybody. As discussed previously, up to 2,000 NAMA units could be used for social housing and we should fast-track them. The housing assistance payment, HAP, should be introduced because the rent supplement system was designed in 1977 and is out of date with the modern private rental market and needs to be overhauled-----