Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This focused approach to reporting is a good one and is the way forward. We have exchanged views very often and now it is about accountability and delivery of housing solutions. This point has been echoed by members on other occasions and it has to be the focus of Rebuilding Ireland.

Pillar 5 deals with utilising existing housing stock and there were 22 action items but I will deal with just four specific issues. The first was touched on by Deputy Casey and the Minister and it relates to compiling the register of vacant units across the country. The issue here is the integrity of data. In the past 12 months, we have received different data and different figures from different people, which is something we need to address. It is changing and we are getting more and more data so we need it to be authoritative.

The report states that we are to review the system of differential rents for social housing. I will strike a note of caution here. There were some very imaginative local authorities who, when doing boiler maintenance or another improvement scheme, entered into an agreement to add €1 to the rent per week for a contribution to maintenance. I know of one such practice in Dún Laoghaire and it leads to responsible tenancy, which I like. There must be flexibility within local authorities as we are not homogenous and we do not want everything to be centralised. We want accountability, centrally, but we must leave a certain amount of flexibility for local authorities. If they come up with imaginative schemes such as the one to which I referred, and there is an agreement with tenants, we should allow them.

The previous Administration suggested a national rent scheme, as Deputy Alan Kelly mentioned. There were objections to that from a range of sectors. Public engagement with local authorities is very important. A certain amount of flexibility is needed though at the same time one wants some sort of standardisation or margins, which I want to talk about. On exploring ways of promoting available step-down facilities, we know where we have pressures on social housing, particularly in Dublin but also Galway, Limerick and Cork. We have older people in communities who wish to remain in their communities. Forget about their status or income. They might have a large property and want to step down. We do not have those facilities. We need a range of options, whether co-operative housing, social housing - since we see it in social housing stock too - or in the private sector where people want to realise their capital and step-down. The key issue is that it has to be within their communities. People want to remain in their communities. That needs to be enabled so we need to look at some of the big new housing schemes which are coming on. That may need one or two bedroom units, smaller units, or new types of arrangements. That is worth emphasising.

On choice-based letting, I hear reports from a number of local authorities which have run pilot schemes that there is huge resistance in some local authorities to choice-based letting. I will single out the local authority in Wicklow specifically. I met people in the area recently who do not know where they are on the housing list. They are told that is confidential. They have no way to know whether they are number 10, 40 or 80 on a list. We have to have a transparent housing list, particularly for social housing. We need to look at and standardise that. We need to ensure the right of any person who is homeless or waiting to have a home to be able to contact the housing authority and ask for his or her position and be assured that nobody else is jumping ahead and getting a place due to knowing somebody. I am not suggesting that is happening but I want a transparent system where people have an individual ID number they can access on the system to see where they are and where the movement is on the list. I do not believe in giving that discretion to local authorities. That should be a central direction. There has to be a proper open and transparent social housing list. It would be helpful for this committee for, within perhaps a month, us to have a report on all the choice-based lettings and the situation in each of the 31 local authorities. I am not interested in pilot schemes if they are not going to be assessed. A number of these pilot schemes have gone on for a year. We want to know the outcome of these pilot schemes and the standard. There was great talk here about people having rights. There were many refusals for social housing and many suggestions about why people were refusing it. Some suggested that people did not like the location and others said it was a flat above something else, while others thought the accommodation was not appropriate for their needs. Let us have the choice. We thought choice-based letting would allow other people who wanted to take the property, which might have had eight, nine or ten refusals, to take it. We need greater clarity. I think it would be helpful for this committee and would like to request that we have some sort of spreadsheet report on all 31 local authorities and where we are with choice-based letting.