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

I welcome the delegates. I will take up the point on migrants because one in four people in the constituency I represent was born outside Ireland. Ours is the most diverse constituency. I wager that it has the highest level of homelessness in the country. I have been informed the Threshold helpline is mainly rung by people in the west and north Dublin, but we also have the figures for homelessness in Dublin and Fingal. Most of those who are homeless in Fingal are is in the greater Blanchardstown area.

With regard to migrants, I suggested we needed to bring people before the committee to testify directly about their homelessness. One of the families I had in mind was an African family. Last year I held a meeting in my constituency office with ten homeless families from the area, five of whom were not Irish. Non-Irish people are being hit disproportionately by homelessness. The reason is, as Mr. Allen stated, that they are mainly reliant on the private rented sector, which is the cause and curse of all homelessness, and do not really have the same supports as others if they become homeless such as staying with friends. It is a real issue.

Another issue I want to raise is the absolute sin of self-accommodation, whereby people are sent by the local authority to find their own accommodation. This is bad enough if one is Irish, but if one is not Irish, it is even worse because there are potential language difficulties. The delegates might comment on what they come across in this regard because it has not yet been discussed at the committee.

I want to take up Mr. Allen's points about prevention of homelessness. I agree that it is the first thing on which the committee has to make recommendations. There is vital legislation which needs to be introduced and enacted.

Rent supplement is a cause of homelessness. Mr. Allen has stated the inflexibility of the Department is leading to homelessness. We must nail this. The State, through its intransigence, is making people homeless.

When officials from the Department appeared before us recently, I referred to Mr. Allen's assertion that this was universal. Last year or in 2014, the then Minister, Deputy Burton, stated that there was no evidence of it being universal. I made the point that it was the only fraud being committed in social welfare about which the Department did not want to know anything. The reason for this is that the Department knows that people are only defrauding themselves and, therefore, it does not care. Sitting across from us, the officials from the Department stated that it had a more caring and sharing attitude and that if people approached them about their top-ups, it would help them, so let us see if that happens.

Will the witnesses briefly explain why discretionary uplifts will not work, that is, people telephoning and being given something on a nudge-nudge basis? One reason for it not working is that, as the Peter McVerry Trust told us, not everyone knows about these matters. There is an assumption that everyone who becomes homeless is reading legal textbooks and whatever the Department issues on a daily basis. Many do not and are intimidated and frightened. They are not used to getting help and do not know how to get any. I am amazed that people are walking out of houses in which they could have stayed.

I wish to ask about one of Focus Ireland's recommendations, the abolition of ending leases so that properties might be sold, but only where the landlord owns more than one property. I have an issue with this. According to DKM Economic Consultants in 2014, two thirds of landlords owned only one property each. Why must a tenant who is unlucky enough to be with a one-property landlord become homeless, unlike someone whose landlord owns more than one property? If Focus Ireland wants to prevent homelessness, it must advocate this recommendation across the board. Otherwise, the haemorrhage will continue.

I welcome that Focus Ireland highlighted what I have been calling the Baker judgment, which people probably do not realise is what has saved the Tyrrelstown tenants from eviction thus far. They approached the Residential Tenancies Board to make a challenge. We will use other grounds in time, but the judgment is saving many people from homelessness. We made this proposal to the RTB before Christmas, but it was voted down. One must demonstrate that one has made efforts to sell one’s property, for example, contacting an estate agent. One cannot just claim that one is selling the property at which point the tenants must leave. Focus Ireland is asking the Government to legislate properly for this. That is critical, as people need to know that they have this support.

Regarding the point made on one property versus multiple properties, I understand why Focus Ireland has included this clause. I am sure that there are cases of people who would be in great hardship if they could not get their own houses back. I assume that this is why Focus Ireland is making the proposal. We all know people who have needed to move in with their parents because they could not afford to live in the houses that they bought in the bubble era. Different actions need to be taken on that front. For example, there should have been a mortgage write-down, which would have ended many of our problems. If one could prove financial hardship, amendments could be made instead of simply referring to only those with multiple properties.

My final point is on what Focus Ireland called the fatal reliance on the private rental sector in the Government’s housing policy. I do not have time to go into all of the figures, as I have gone into many previously. What are the views of the witnesses on the Government’s targets and figures? It is a broad question, but the Government has a target of 9,000 Part V units by 2020. This is based on 25,000 general private units being built every year, but last year only half of that amount was built. Most were one-off housing that could not have provided any Part V housing. I will be kind and diplomatic, since one is not allowed to say that the Government is "lying", but the figures do not stand up in any way. I would be interested in the views of the witnesses-----