Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Jordan for appearing before the committee. I also congratulate Threshold on the work it does, particularly in the specialised area of emergency housing. It is appropriate that organisations and agencies are available to deal with this issue. I disagree with Mr. Jordan, however, regarding the degree to which the rental market can be regulated to any great effect in so far as consumers are concerned. I am glad the report of the first commission on the private rented sector has reappeared after so many years later because I opposed its recommendations on the basis that they could not work and unfortunately I was right.

I should declare an interest in that I rented for ten or 12 years. While my landlord was not great at doing repairs, he was a good landlord. I estimate that 90% of landlords are conscientious and reasonable people. However, there is a small group of poor landlords. Threshold and many members will have encountered cases where landlords have given tenants 24 hours to vacate a property. Such ultimatums are not in line with regulations and require interventions to protect tenants. In other cases, landlords have physically ejected tenants from their properties, leaving them on the side of the road with nothing. This is not in accordance with the law, irrespective of whether we like it. Some landlords refuse to sign a lease and the rent support system has difficulty providing support to tenants who do not have a lease.

The only resolution to the current problem is to rapidly increase the number of directly built local authority homes.

That does not mean that the local authorities hire plumbers and plasters. Rather, they contract the work out and get projects done as quickly as possible. I am of the view that it would be possible to do what I have outlined.

I will conclude by saying that I heard some comments during the week about a reference I made last week to affordability. Affordability is a simple matter: it was always deemed to be two-and-a-half times the gross income of the earner. That was the maximum which could be tolerated. If a person has €100,000, the maximum mortgage or equivalent in terms of rent would be €250,000. That is a long way from where matters stand in the context of both the rental and purchase markets. The position is unsustainable. I have dealt with cases in the past week whereby rents have increased from €900 to €1,700 to €2,000. We can talk about this issue as long as we like but that what is happening. There will be no immediate resolution unless we can accelerate the delivery of publicly-funded houses by local authorities and eliminate the concept of social housing. It is a local authority housing programme that is badly needed.