Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with previous speakers. I have had dealings with the local authorities and some of the staff of Focus Ireland, who have been doing an excellent job but the problem is that the system is wrong. Mr. Allen brought up HAP, for example. I will give the committee two recent examples of my representations in this regard. One took place on Monday, the other on Friday, when I met a lady who was in arrears and whose son had moved back into the family house. Her rent had doubled and, because she had not cleared the associated arrears, her HAP payment was cut from the end of December. We are now into February and she is still paying off whatever the sum is weekly to HAP. Unless she clears her arrears, which she has 12 weeks to do, those administering HAP will not put her back on the system. She is therefore getting no HAP and is also clearing her rent arrears. It just does not make sense. I said to those administering HAP that there must be an appeals process in place to give her that extra little time. They refused. HAP will only allow a tenant 12 weeks to clear his or her arrears. If he or she does not do so within 12 weeks, they do not want to know and they cut the tenant off.

Another experience I had was through working through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. These are people who come to my clinics on foot of a referral from the society and have just become homeless. There is no help out there for them. It is the system that is wrong. I met a lady who, through no fault of her own - I know the family well - handed back her house eight years ago to the local authority. I will correct Mr. Harvey on local authorities. The reason she left was anti-social behaviour, of which she was a victim. There was nothing the local authority could do for her. Tenants who do not pay their rent to the local authorities are evicted. A local authority tenant is not evicted, however, if he or she causes anti-social behaviour - there is no such legislation - yet tenants who do not pay their rent to the local authorities will be brought to court by them for the rent. This seems to be the way in which HAP is administered too. It is all about arrears. The lady to whom I refer is off the housing list. Naturally, when one hands back a key, one is off it for five years. This was agreed, and there was no problem. She had been off the list for five years - she has been off it for eight years now - and had a small amount of arrears of €800. She qualified to go back on the housing list, but until she clears her €800 arrears, those administering HAP will not put her back on the payment. Therefore, she is now paying out €1,000 a month on rent and does not qualify to go on HAP because she has arrears of a few hundred euro. I suggested that she would pay it in instalments but they did not want to know.

It is the system that is wrong. I see this with Focus Ireland. I know it is going around working with people, but what can it do if the system cannot be beaten? We were talking about rent recently. Rent increases have become humongous. I see this in Carlow, my area, where rent has increased from €700 a month to €1,000 a month. Then one fights with those administering HAP to get the extra increase. In fairness, if a tenant has a good case, they will give him or her the extra bit but there is no wider help there. The rent pressure zones are not working, as the witnesses know from the report. The landlords are increasing the rent and the people cannot afford to come up with it. We now have soup kitchens. In my constituency we have set up what we would know as a soup kitchen. This is the era we are living in. It does not make sense.

What do we do? I know Focus Ireland's role is to speak to those involved but what can all of us do? We need to give those affected information and tell them their entitlements but this can only happen if the system is changed and everyone works together. I have noticed lately that if I make representations about a case in which I know the person will become homeless again, it is the same situation: I am told to come back when they are homeless. Then the person rings Focus Ireland, which, by the way, does a great job. I am not giving out about it. However, what do we do? I had representatives of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in with me again the other day to try to help the woman to whom I referred earlier to clear her arrears. As those administering HAP will not look at the case, what role are we all going to play? The biggest issue facing us is lack of housing, including apartments. Unless the system is changed, the suggested solutions will not work. Focus Ireland plays a very positive role. We seem to be knocking the county councils here. As Mr. Allen said, county councils are going with what they are told to do. They are implementing legislation. That is what I was told yesterday and that is fine.

Does Focus Ireland buy houses? When it meets a family that is homeless - and it is great that it does so - and sits down with them and helps them with awareness of their rights and entitlements, does it follow up on this through the local authorities? I know the local authorities ring Focus Ireland and tell its staff when they have cases of people who are ready to become homeless. What exactly is Focus Ireland's role in this regard? Does Focus Ireland follow up on this? Does it go back and work with the local authority? Does it go back to the family? Does it keep in contact with the families until they are sorted? I could outline to the witnesses five or six cases I know of that need help from Focus Ireland. I acknowledge it helps such cases and does a great job but unless it looks at the system, it will not work. Focus Ireland's biggest problem is HAP. HAP is only what is called rent allowance, and I think that is people's confusion. That is exactly what it is; it is no different. One gets one's form, fills it in and stays on the housing list. One can stay on the housing list while on HAP. One only comes off the housing list through RAS, and there is massive confusion over RAS and HAP.