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

I welcome everyone, particularly Ms Mary Mulholland and Ms Kathleen Holohan from my area. I will go easy on Ms Mulholland.

The lack of housing supply is the biggest issue facing us. While I welcome the housing assistance payment, HAP, there are major problems with the scheme and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Last week I asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government about the rent pressure zones. He said he would be breaking the law if he were to include Carlow or similar areas in the scheme. Today we discussed the rent pressure zones with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, which stated it could introduce them because the Department was considering a second phase. It is in the amendment that all county councils and local authorities be considered for inclusion in rent pressure zones. There are 21 such zones. It costs €1,000 to rent a house in Carlow. The cap for the housing list is an annual income of €27,500. The maximum payment under the HAP scheme for a couple with one child is €600 per month. A lone parent with three kids receives €700. The problem is that because rents have gone up so much there is a balance of €300 to €400 that people are not able to pay. There is an appeal mechanism and I am constantly in contact with the local HAP section, but it is not enough. Rents have risen and HAP scheme payments are not half what they should be. While the Department has created rent pressure zones to help, it has created a disaster in other areas which I see. Because of this people are only barely surviving. It is causing a lot of hassle.

A person included in the HAP scheme or the RAS receives his or her payments but someone in receipt of rent allowance does not qualify to go on the local authority housing list. The rent allowance is too small. If there is a crisis and someone is not on the housing list, we go to the Intreo centre which we would have known as the social welfare office where the person can receive rent allowance in an emergency. It is very small; a person would be lucky to receive €500, but the monthly rent is €1,000. We are creating a situation where people are starting to become homeless. In my area, because the criteria do not add up, it is causing problems. I was all in favour of the HAP scheme because I felt the rent allowance scheme was not good enough, but now the HAP scheme is causing too much trouble.

I think the RAS needs to be changed. A person can only be taken off it if he or she has been on the housing list since before 2011. Many want to come off it. I do not think they should have to have been on the housing list since before 2011. That is part of the policy and I have many issues with it.

At €27,500, the housing list cap in Carlow County Council is one of the lowest in the country. I have been bringing up this issue for months with Ms Mulholland. I know people who do not qualify to go on the local authority housing list because they are in receipt of family income supplement, which puts them in a dilemma. The Government has brought forward a new mortgage system which does not consider family income supplement payments, although they are considered in being on the housing list. No such payments are considered in the case of a mortgage. People are becoming homeless because they may be €1,000 over the limit in seeking to go on the housing list. The constituency is Carlow-Kilkenny, but in the case of Kilkenny County Council, the cap is €33,500. The difference does not add up. People are panicking and I am really concerned. Ms Mulholland has said there will be a decision on the cap by late summer. I hope that by the end of September she will be able to tell us there is a different cap for Carlow County Council.

Reviews are carried out every two or three years. Persons who have been on the housing list for eight or nine years may be taken off it because they are over the limit, but are not given a chance to appeal. I have made representations for several people in that position. The council needs to put a system in place for them because being taken off the list can have an awful effect on them. They are down in their rent allowance payments and may not qualify for a mortgage. The council needs to put a system in place to prevent that from happening. I think this is happening in all local authorities.

Owing to staff shortages, a person who applies to the local authority may have to wait up to ten weeks to be put on the housing list. I cannot blame any local authority for this, but the issue needs to be examined. I know of cases where people have been waiting ten to 12 weeks, which is unacceptable. People need to have their interview within three to four weeks because they are waiting for rent allowance payments and need to know if they qualify to be put on the housing list. There needs to be a system in place such that everybody will be given a fair hearing, but that is not happening.

The approved housing bodies, AHBs, have started to buy and build a lot of houses lately. A total of 15% of the persons who qualify for one of these houses do not have to be on the local authority housing list, but 85% of them do.

When these houses are given out, people work through the local authority and the names are given by the authority to these bodies. They will interview people and they go on need and sometimes they will not go on time spent on the list. Somebody might be only three years on a list and somebody else might be eight years on the list and not get one.

We have to welcome the fact that all these agencies are buying houses, but the problem is there is no joined-up thinking. Is there some system where the approved housing bodies can work with local authorities on this? They provide names, but perhaps a system could be put in place. I understand some people may be more in need of housing because they have children with disabilities or illnesses. I understand they need to be a priority. Carlow County Council would be accountable and at times when I go in I would think I have a good case and the council workers would have to listen to me. Working with the local authority system for 20 years, one would know most families over generations. It is what happens in our line of work. I can honestly say accountability is 100% with us. The criteria for special cases are not clear. What I class as a special case might not be classed as a special case by Carlow County Council. Guidelines must be put in place in all local authorities. We need to have a particular timescale. Focus Ireland has played its part lately by working with local authorities. Are we moving many cases from local authorities to Focus Ireland? We need a system in place in this regard and we should look at that.

I understand anti-social behaviour does not happen too often but the only reason for eviction is non-payment of rent. If somebody causes anti-social behaviour, it can be very unfair on good people. It does not happen too often but it happens. A system should be in place for the local authority to sort this out. It cannot happen in the courts - I am dealing with some matters in court currently - as a log is required of what happens every day and there must be formal complaints. It does not work as the process is too long. It is not a massive issue but it can be a concern for people living in an area.