Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Brett said in his introduction that homelessness is largely a supply issue, but homelessness is being caused by repossessions by the banks. It is not just a supply issue. People in houses are being put out of them, otherwise homelessness would not be increasing. It is not just supply and Mr. Brett needs to correct this. The biggest reason I see for people being made homeless now is they live in a rented property which has been repossessed by a bank. This is bar no other reason. Mr. Brett did not mention this in his introduction. Either the banks put pressure on the owner of a property to sell it or, usually, they pass it over to a receiver to do the evicting. They do not ask too many questions about who lives in the house. There is a code of conduct for people in mortgage arrears, and I am not saying it is sufficient because it is not, but there is no code to protect very vulnerable people living in private rented accommodation, which is an ever growing sector of society. They are the biggest group in poverty due to rent increases and cuts if some of them are on rent supplement.

Many families have been in emergency accommodation for up to a year because they were evicted by receivers working for the banks. There has been an increase in this area. The Government should outlaw this while there is a housing emergency, but if it fails to do so will the banks take it upon themselves voluntarily to insist that no family is put out into emergency accommodation, which is a cost to the State, if they do not have anywhere else to go? They do not have anywhere else to go, and this is reality, but I have not heard Mr. Brett say anything about this.

The banks had an immediate role in the housing crisis and there has been a huge cut in the capital budget for social housing. From 2008 to 2014, €11.4 billion was removed from the capital budget for social housing. This coincided with the bailout of the banks by taxpayers. This is why it was cut. The bailout of the banks and speculators played a role in cutting social housing spending. In 2008, €1.4 billion was spent on social housing and last year €500 million was spent on it, so it is approximately one third of what it used to be. It relates to the recession brought about by the financial sector.

With regard to people in mortgage arrears, be they buy to let owners or home owners, does Mr. Brett agree there should be a more generalised writedown on mortgage arrears at this stage?

The Housing Agency provided the committee with data on restructures and so on. It is all very well for people to say there is a need for more split mortgages and so on but even the Housing Agency agrees that is only delaying the inevitable for the person unless his or her financial circumstances improve.

The banks appear to be more willing to write down the debts of developers than they are to write down mortgage debts. Between January 2014 and June 2015, Allied Irish Bank, AIB, wrote off more than €4 billion in commercial property loans but only €820 million in mortgage debt, including in respect of buy-to-let properties, despite the fact the bank's mortgage books are larger than its commercial property sector loan books. It appears to be a case of one law for developers, who obviously do not have money, and another for other people who bought houses at overly inflated prices, who also do not have money. There appears to be a generous attitude on the part of the banks towards the developers that is not replicated to home owners.