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

I thank the Minister. Along with other speakers, I am also concerned about the homeless figures. There are issues there that we need to address more. We have all said that more needs to be done for people in emergency accommodation.

Another example is people who are coming to me who are not even qualifying to go onto the housing list. These people are on family income supplement. They are not qualifying. There is a lot of this throughout the country. Perhaps for the long term we need to provide for those who are barely over the income threshold. There has to be a provision for hardship cases. If a person is €10 over the income threshold to qualify for the local authority housing list, there is no discretion. The Minister can go to the Department to say it has to be changed. If a genuine family is just €10 or €20 over the cap, they are being told "No". We are not addressing the issue for this cohort. It is becoming a massive issue and may be a bigger problem going forward. The Department's figures for an average monthly spend on rent in Ireland state that rent in Carlow is €554. I can tell the Minister that the cheapest rent in Carlow for a house is €1,000 per month. A person can pay the balance with the housing assistance payment, HAP. Years ago when people were in receipt of rent supplement they could not say how much the house was costing, but now they can. People now have less and less income because they are paying a massive amount back to the landlord since the HAP is not sufficient. This issue needs to be looked at. I am shocked at the number of people coming to me who are in that position. It is just another area that needs to be looked at. I am very concerned about the issue of homelessness.

I want to know more about the funding of what I would have called local authority mortgages. In fairness to the Minister, his Department has made this a big priority and it has had a massive uptake. I know many people who will apply for this and many others who are in the system waiting for it. Perhaps the Minister will clarify what way the funding is on this. It is another area that needs to be addressed.

Nearly one year ago I brought to the Minister's attention the Danish co-housing system. It is a living solution where families get together and build several small houses together on one plot of land with shared spaces for communal laundry and cooking, and a lounge. I believe there are very good reports and statistics on this Danish model. Is there any way we could look to this in the long-term picture, especially for housing those who are homeless? These are the types of units that will happen going forward.