Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his questions. I might jump around with the answers as there were some important questions and I want to ensure I can address them. There has been some misunderstanding about what happened in the universities over the summer. What may be advertised as "rent" is not actually rent until it is agreed. As the new laws came into effect on 15 August, unless the universities increased rent for previous tenants, new tenants coming to accommodation this week, next week or the month after that would have their accommodation captured by rent pressure zones as per the legislation. Those students have the protection of the legislation that was introduced earlier in the year. The universities have been talking about increasing their rents since the third quarter of 2018 and that is one reason we moved to bring the change in legislation and those protections. If the accommodation was rented last year, the rent cannot be increased beyond the 4% level. If there is any concern about that, those students should absolutely access the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB.

The Senator asked about Tusla inspections. Inspections of emergency accommodation happen and when I met the Ombudsman I said that we absolutely want to ensure we can have trust in what is happening in our emergency accommodation. The national quality standards framework is important and we must roll that out to emergency accommodation across the country. We can then look at what might follow. Tusla does not report to me on this matter but I raised this point with the Ombudsman. All the appropriate checks in terms of Garda vetting and training are in place for the providers of emergency accommodation and hubs, and the local authorities and non-governmental organisations are responsible for the hubs they operate. There is also a responsibility on private operators. There is already an inspection system in place and there are already standards being rolled out nationally. We will continue to see what more we can do to ensure people can have confidence in the type of accommodation being offered to families in particular at a time of emergency and crisis.

The cap for the rent-a-room scheme is still €14,000. Last year I helped to fund some student union organisations in getting the word out about this scheme and they presented very compelling data to me on the success of their campaigns, and how this has helped people, particularly in accommodation close to universities. We do not hold data on the scheme as it does not fall under my Department. Acquisitions are helping in areas where there are vacant properties and there is no demand in the private sector. The process is also helping regeneration in a number of areas as well.

In 2018 we saw an eightfold increase in the number of social housing homes being built by local authorities since 2015, the year before the publication of Rebuilding Ireland. People always say this number is coming from a low base but it is not any more. More than 6,000 homes will be built this year and the stock of social housing is to be increased by 10,000 units. It is why I publish the annual targets for each local authority and what numbers are then reached. Everybody knows what they must do and what is achieved. We have held a number of housing summits and they have been very helpful. We have moved from housing summits with chief executives to more focused engagements with housing delivery teams in regions and specific local authorities. In two local authorities, we have introduced the task force concept that we had in Cork; it is now across Galway city and county and it is starting to show results in what it will be able to do this year and next year.

Some local authorities are ramping up more quickly than others, and we have an engagement tomorrow at the County and City Management Association to see how we can get the better performing local authorities to help other local authorities. We also have the new standard internal design document that has been published and the document for both the layout of social housing estates and the internal layout for homes. It will help the local authorities that need such assistance to do better. We can look at the increase in numbers and what is happening, and although it took a couple of years to gear up the local authorities, they are now geared up and delivery is coming. I mentioned this morning that right now, there are more than 6,000 social housing homes on-site and under construction. That number will continue to increase each month.