Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and the officials. This is a welcome ongoing engagement that has to happen between all the stakeholders. We, as Oireachtas Members, have a very important role to play in delivering what is a very ambitious action plan, Rebuilding Ireland. I welcome also the fact the Minister is going round the country meeting local authorities, the approved housing bodies and other stakeholders. That is critical because the nub of the issue is delivery of units and output to meet the crisis and the need that we all know is there. It is important to continue with that.

All the schemes the Minister is running, the initiatives that have already been put in place and the new initiatives that will require legislative change, will require the support of both Houses of the Oireachtas. I hope we can get behind this to remove any barriers to delivery of units which cause homelessness. We all have an important role to play, hopefully in the coming weeks, not months or years, in that regard.

The housing assistance payment, HAP, and the voids programmes are already proving successful but we need to see a further roll-out of those. The purchase schemes are working for the local authorities and approved housing bodies. The building of new units is the critical area. Will the Minister elaborate on what changes have been made in the Department in the mechanisms for measuring output and ensuring delivery, whether through local authorities or approved housing bodies? I know he will be going into this under pillar 2. I recognise Mary Hurley, one of the officials who is now leading one of the sections in the Department. A lot of staff, expertise and resources were lost on local authorities. I know much ground work was done on rebuilding that capacity but now we need to support them, whether through staffing or with the assistance of the housing agencies, which have vast expertise available to advise local authorities and the approved housing bodies on demographics, house types, expertise and infrastructure. We really need to remove the barriers now and build that capacity so that we can deliver output. That is where most of the focus needs to be.

In respect of homelessness, one of the critical changes for which the Minister has managed to get cross-departmental and cross-Government support is in the area of mental health and children. I believe, as does anyone who knows the complexities of rough sleepers, that it is not just a question of giving them a house. They need critical supports for addiction problems and other issues. The increase from €2 million to €6 million will go a long way. I welcome that support from the Minister for Health. We need to align the objectives across Departments. For too long we have been operating in silos within government. For the first time, I see an alignment across Departments that can really hit the homelessness problem that we all want to resolve. That increase alone will bring vital support to help those who have addiction problems and other mental health issues to sustain their tenancies in accommodation that they may be offered. I welcome that and we need to see more off it.

I have a couple of other points to make and I will be as brief as possible. The mortgage-to-rent scheme was mentioned by the Minister. I want to be somewhat critical here due to experience. With regard to private households, the scheme is very limited in its success. There have been refusals by housing bodies, in my opinion, often for spurious reasons. One such refusal was issued on foot of a house having been modified. In that case, an extension was added to what was previously a local authority house. To me, it was a no-brainer but a reason was found to decline it. That is merely one example. Other examples relate to houses in rural areas. In my view, there is discrimination in some areas with regard to the mortgage-to-rent scheme. Whereas in urban areas they are accepted, if a person is trouble in a rural area, the application will be declined simply because the house is located in such an area. That is not good enough. I welcome the fact the Minister will review that by the end of the year. I ask him to pay particular attention to the areas to which I refer because there is more scope to keep people in their houses under the mortgage-to-rent scheme if we can make it more flexible and broader in scope and ensure that reviews are carried out in a more sympathetic way.

I mentioned the Housing Agency and I will not rehearse what I have already said. However, the agency is critically important in terms of assisting local authorities and approved housing bodies in achieving their targets.

Ultimately, it is important that, irrespective of our politics, we all get behind the ambitious programme the Minister has set out to the greatest degree possible. The funding is there for the programme. I accept that it will put significant pressure on local authorities but they need to deliver. We need to support them and local authority members in whatever way possible.

My final point relates to a new type of devolved scheme - under which moneys up to a maximum of €2 million can be disbursed - that was introduced at the request of local authorities whereby they, in cases where there is a need for smaller projects, can apply directly to the Department. It was felt there would be fewer approvals required because once an application in respect of a project was submitted and approved, it would be up to the local authority to deliver it. The downside for local authorities is that if additional expenditure is required or if unforeseen circumstances arise, they must deal with the situation. The Minister might inform the committee regarding the success of the scheme to date. It is only a new scheme but it has potential, particularly if local authorities could engage it in a proactive manner.