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

Looking at what is outlined in the document, the only sure-fire solution to stop people becoming homeless would involve the State acquiring these properties. There are 40 properties involved in this instance but there are potentially 150 to 200 properties because other people could get a notice at any time. Let us say it involves 100 houses. Fingal County Council has been negotiating with the developer for months. If that developer does not agree to sell them, we face a difficulty because we need the type of legislation we have been talking about, which is CPO to acquire distressed properties if the developer does not agree. The developer may agree and if so, what do we do with the people who are in them? Some of the people are on the council's housing list. We carried out a survey of the tenants affected. Two thirds of them were working and paying full rent, while roughly one third were on rent supplement. Some of the people who were paying full mortgages were on the council's list as well. My point is that we cannot just follow the usual route of turfing the people out and bringing in council tenants. That would be ridiculous. The reason I raise it is because this is what the council is talking about.

This committee must state that something new must be introduced for people in situin houses the council is buying. I suggest that those paying rent of €1,450 are more than capable of paying a mortgage. My mortgage repayment is half that amount. I bought an affordable house from the council 13 years ago. The only difficulty would be the issue of a deposit, which is why it is put into the submission. The way around that is to allow people to continue paying a much higher rent. They could continue paying €1,400 for a period, the deposit would be worked up very quickly and then it could be reduced. I am just saying that we need some imaginative ways. Those people on rent supplement or the council's housing list should be made council tenants in those properties.

The council has a tendency to want to house homeless people. We all favour that because we all deal with homeless families and we want them housed. There is, however, some reluctance on the part of councils to step in because it does not deal with their homeless lists. The reality is that the numbers on their homeless lists will increase dramatically if people are not catered for. The reason I raise this matter is because this is the first template for vulture fund properties and these are some of the issues in respect of which we must make recommendations.