Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Previous speakers have said that the local authorities have been verbally bashed in the Dáil. One hears it quite a bit and it is an effort to put the blame on local councils. I am not one of those Deputies either but I shall be quite critical about some of the issues that have been raised. I shall focus on Fingal because I am based in the area. I am not just being parochial because, as the manager said, Fingal is the fastest-growing county in the country and has the youngest population. As a result, it has the most families with children who will likely need housing and its population is increasing rapidly. Fingal also has the highest migrant population, which is the largest single group in the private rental sector that has fallen into homelessness. There are added problems, complications and issues relating to the migrant population.

I studied the previous presentation. Fingal's social housing stock is half that of South Dublin County Council. I always wondered why councillors and Deputies in Fingal had to face such a difficult problem, particularly those from the Solidarity Party, which was previously known as the Anti-Austerity Alliance. Fingal has 380 homeless families out of a total of 1,312 such families throughout the State. In other words, 29% of all of the homeless families in the country live in Fingal. Earlier, however, the director of housing and community services at Fingal County Council stated, "The council has already exceeded the targets set in this strategy and delivery outputs on our target of 1,376 units stand at 102%". That sounds like everything in the garden is rosy. Everything in the garden is an absolute nightmare in Fingal in terms of housing. Homelessness now spans two generations. I know of a homeless mother who resides in bed and breakfast accommodation on the Navan Road and her daughter who is in her 20s is homeless somewhere else because she has a child of her own. I will not go into how bad the situation is because I am sure the council's staff have got it in the neck and need counselling themselves. Council managers should shout and demand more. They should not say, "We have reached our targets, we are doing really well and we are mobilising the staff." Council managers must be a lot more critical and demand that central government deliver what is needed for their areas.

I shall go through some of the issues that were raised in the presentation made by Fingal County Council. It claims to have delivered 1,408 social housing units over the past three years. As much as 41% of those housing units are HAP or rental accommodation scheme, RAS, units which means they are not permanent housing. As Dr. Rory Hearne said at a conference yesterday, one quarter of HAP housing has fallen out of permanent accommodation and after a couple of years people become homeless.

We are only shoring up a problem. Of the 1,400 units, 270 are voids. The real figure for the number provided in the two and a half year period is 553. At that rate, it would take 35 years to house everyone on Fingal County Council's social housing list permanently. The council should be screaming for more resources because it deserves much more. The €81 million is no different from what has been allocated to other councils, yet Fingal County Council has a more acute problem. The housing figure has decreased in recent years, which probably has more to do with a cleaning up of people on the list. Many more who would love to be given a house are not being accommodated.

Less than 20% of the units provided by local authorities are new builds, with the majority being acquisitions. Councils are buying housing. I am not opposed to this because we need to do something quickly, but it pushes up prices for others who are competing for the same housing. Of the 286 units in the process, how many have been acquired and how many will be acquired soon?

Only 601 homes are under construction, at tender stage or in the preplanning process, with 842 approved in total versus a total of 7,865 people on the list. At that construction rate, how long would it take to house everyone? This number does not include land management planned sites which have the potential to provide 3,200 homes. It has been stated that these will be mixed tenure developments - social and affordable, cost rental, co-operative housing, etc. How many social homes will be built on these sites? I have a particular concern about the greater Blanchardstown area, given that the majority of the homeless persons in question are located within a couple of miles of it. This problem could be easily solved if we had the political will to do so. It is targeted in areas.

The last remaining council-owned, zoned site is in Wellview which is listed as being 33 ha. I am making this comment to all of the parties represented at this meeting, not just Fingal County Council. It is the only remaining piece of council land left in Blanchardstown to cater for most of the homeless in Dublin 15. If properly planned, it could solve our housing problem in one fell swoop. Even if the council opted for a low to medium density of 50 houses per hectare, 1,650 families could be catered for. I am not arguing that the council aim for that many, but I would be open to considering it if the council were to break up the development properly with parks, facilities, etc. It would be outrageous if the last remaining piece of land in the area of the country hit most by the homelessness problem was halved and given over to the private sector. Any party on the council that supports it has serious questions to answer. The council must make an exception in its support for mixed tenure developments.

In terms of Part V developments, a figure of 41 units in the past two and a half years was cited. That is low. Estates are being built all over the place, although mainly as higher end housing in Castleknock and elsewhere that probably would not be affordable. Surely we are getting Part V contributions from them.

A great deal of NAMA building has occurred in Fingal, including Dublin 15. At the launch of its annual report, NAMA stated it had sold off enough land for 50,000 homes in the past six years. Has the council noticed this land hoarding? Who owns the land in Fingal not council owned? Is it owned by vulture funds or developers?

Regarding the reliance on the HAP scheme, the level is at 41%, yet the council has called it a great success. How many HAP tenancies in Fingal have ended? How many landlords have shown their willingness to make properties available under the HAP scheme? It is not my experience or that of any of our councillors that people can find HAP housing. When someone can get €2,000 per month in renting a house in Dublin 15, why would he or she provide housing under the HAP scheme?

I was amazed that Fingal County Council did not list homelessness as one of its challenges, given that it has one third of the country's homeless population. Orwellian language was used, in that "175 households have had their homeless circumstances alleviated through the allocation of social housing support". What does that mean and why is the figure less than the 243 homeless HAP tenancies available? Is it because people have become homeless again? How many homeless families have been given council houses? It was mentioned that 3,000 vacant houses in Fingal were listed by the CSO, but only 361 had been identified as being possibly vacant. Will the delegates explain the situation of the remainder? Has someone started to live in them since? It seems to be a low level of acquirable vacant houses.

Fingal appears to have the highest figure for the handing over of estates to approved housing bodies, AHBs. I saw this while I was a member of the council for 11 years. I have studied the figures for other councils. For some reason, Fingal County Council does not seem to run any housing estate anymore. It is passed over immediately to Clúid, Respond! and Túath Housing. Why is the rate so much higher in Fingal than in other areas? This causes problems for those who enter the estates. They do not have the same recourse to representation by councillors, etc.