Ms Ann-Marie O'Reilly:

In Threshold we do not have many people coming to us who have RAS tenancies. I am not sure how many RAS tenancies there are but it is certainly not to the scale of HAP. I would have to look to be sure. I think that when issues with RAS arise there is good engagement with the local authority to resolve them. That is where the tenant on RAS is viewed as a different type of tenant from the HAP tenant, who is very much in the private rented market. As the Deputy said, they have to negotiate with the landlord directly, so having the local authority involved in the RAS tenancy certainly creates an extra level of security and that little bit of support, perhaps, when it is needed. We all may need at different times in our lives that little bit of extra support, and for HAP tenants that is not really there unless they know of the likes of Threshold or the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and come and ask for the assistance.

As to how the State could use its dominance in the market, I have been giving quite a bit of consideration to that. Despite the fact the State is paying the rent on one third of properties, as Deputy McAuliffe said, and I presume that includes rent supplement and RAS, the landlords seem to hold all the cards. Perhaps we could stop some of the churn through the market, with tenants receiving notices of termination, whether for sale, refurbishment or whatever else, and having to move on to the next place and another tenant quite possibly moving into that home after the first tenant perhaps a month or a few months later. This means tenants are constantly on the back foot and constantly having to look for properties, so the landlords can dictate terms and set the agenda. It also means the State, as the body that pays that rent, is also on the back foot. Improving security of tenure is one way of changing that and giving a little bit of the power back to the tenant and the State, as the body that pays the rent, by imposing strict caps on rents and effective solutions in the medium or long term. The moratorium on evictions this year certainly helped rejig the playing field to a degree. Such interventions can help but they need to be made with the larger scale provision of affordable housing options as well.