Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The census data are invaluable and not only for housing. They also show major social trends such as those being discussed in the case of religion. On housing, it is worth drawing out a couple of trends and statistics and drawing conclusions from them. Otherwise, why are we in the housing committee discussing them?

There are more than 245,000 vacant units. This figure represents approximately 10% of the housing stock, if we leave out holiday homes, this at a time when we have the biggest homelessness and housing crisis in the State. It obviously developed in the five years before the census. The population has increased by approximately 4%, but the total housing stock has only increased by 0.4%. Half of all housing has been built in rural areas, in other words, not where it is really needed.

The reasons for vacancies that the enumerators tried to draw out are interesting. I assume the reason most units were vacant could not be ascertained because the owners were not present, particularly on large estates. We have to conclude in also looking at Housing Agency figures that the reason there are these vacancies has much to do with hoarding by developers and NAMA which are waiting for house prices to rise again. Obviously, the CSO does not have this data and I would not expect it to have them. That is the only conclusion that can be drawn based on other discussions we have had at this and in the housing and homelessness committee established last summer.

The fall in the number of young households and the increasing age and size of households are issues I raised in the Dáil several weeks ago with the Minister with responsibility for housing. I had noticed the trend. One would have to say this is no country for young people. The number of home owners aged from 25 to 34 years has fallen by almost 100,000 in five years. As has been said, household size has increased for the first time in 50 years. So much for the home-owning loving Irish people. In fact, 30% of all occupied housing stock is rented accommodation. This means that the rental market is huge and, according to the data, mainly confined to urban areas. The number of mortgages fell by 24% in five years

The rent rises are interesting. It confirms what we have seen anecdotally when dealing with homeless people in Dublin West and elsewhere. The biggest rises were in Dublin city and, not surprisingly, the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown local authority area. I know people who live in that area where houses are being rented for €2,000 or more a month. In my area of Fingal rents have risen by 22.8% in five years, at a time when people's incomes were being slashed through pension-related deductions or the universal social charge. We can see the misery being heaped on them.

The conclusion we have to draw as a committee, if we want action, is that the Government utterly failed to act throughout the five years on three levels. It did nothing to stop rents from escalating; it did nothing to intervene to build houses for those decimated by the housing crisis by giving local authorities money, and it allowed most of the vacant dwellings to remain vacant for five years. It seems little or no attempt has been made to buy these units at knockdown prices, although I know that efforts have been made by some local authorities. Was it not a great opportunity for the Government to acquire them in whatever way it could? Now there is a discussion about incentivising people to release them in order that homeless persons or those who need them can actually live in them. For five years or more the people concerned have held onto them. Yesterday on radio the Minister of State with responsibility for housing spoke about giving carrots to have them released. It is past time when a vacant house tax should be imposed to stop people from holding onto valuable accommodation at a time when there is a housing crisis-----