Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her input and support. On her second question, the rates waiver has been significant. As I stated, it has had a positive impact on businesses. The Government wishes to keep businesses going through the pandemic. There was positive news earlier in the week and it is hoped we will be able to get back to some degree of real normality next year. The rates waiver is about keeping businesses alive. It is just one aspect of the supports that are available. There are also the wage subsidy schemes, restart grants and other measures. We are looking at the ways in which we may have to support businesses into next year. I do not envisage a blanket rates waiver early next year. We would have to be more targeted in that regard. That work is ongoing and has not been concluded.

On homelessness, the additional €60 million funding in the Supplementary Estimates relates to current spending. We had to do several things at the height of the pandemic. We moved money from other subheads to spend it specifically on homelessness. Much of that was around providing additional capacity, particularly in emergency services. Additional bed capacity was provided to de-congregate settings and allow for social distancing among our homeless community and those in emergency accommodation. We do not talk about cocooning any more, but we provided for shielding for some of our community and provided wrap-around services and supports.

The housing budget for next year is €3.3 billion, with a two to one ratio on capital versus current. The big focus of that is on capital expenditure and building public homes. Our target next year is to provide 12,750 homes, 9,500 of which will be built. They will be public social homes. We are targeting a figure of 6,000 people exiting homelessness next year, which will be significant and an increase on the number this year. Thankfully, many people have been prevented from going into homelessness this year as a result of our investment in homelessness services. For example, we have put additional resources into the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. Deputy Higgins and many other Deputies who are present supported the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act passed by the House in July, which provided additional supports to protect people from eviction. The Residential Tenancies Act received cross-party support and is about protecting people during the level 5 restrictions due to the pandemic. We have seen a continued decrease in homeless numbers.

We want to accelerate that decrease through provision of permanent accommodation, and that is what we are focusing on.

We are continuing with our voids programme at pace in order to get 2,500 units back in use this year and, if not actually occupied, then allocated. Every single local authority across the country has a specific target from me and my Department that they must meet by December. A sizeable proportion of those voids will be going to people on the homeless lists. That is coupled with the Call for Housing which I announced just a few weeks after I took over as Minister, which is about purchasing vacant properties and other properties around the country, and it is still moving at pace under the Housing Agency. I hope we can bring an additional 300 properties into the public housing stock through that one programme alone. That is not insignificant, and it is 300 additional families who would not have been housed before.

We are making progress. In the detailed briefing note, the Deputy will see we have highlighted the reduction in numbers across dependants and families. Behind all of those numbers are people, as we are all acutely aware. Our policy direction is about accelerating the reduction in homelessness. It is about keeping people safe through our winter plan, which is in place to make sure there is enough emergency accommodation capacity for rough sleepers in all of our cities, which there is, by the way. It is important that the committee knows that there absolutely is capacity in each of our cities for anyone who needs it. No one should have to be sleeping on the streets. There is capacity there and we will continue to work with the community to deliver on that and to keep people safe during the winter.