Mr. Pat Doyle:

I thank the members of the committee for inviting us here today. They have our submission. I wish to focus on four areas. Throughout the last boom, record numbers of people presented as homeless. So even in the boom we had people homeless at a time when we were building the greatest number of housing units we ever built. We want to see more builds, but we want to include the most vulnerable and the most excluded.

The Minister of State recently announced a strategy to end long-term homelessness by 2016, which we welcome. We believe it is achievable if the right measures are put in place. That would ensure that the most vulnerable long-term homeless people get off the streets. We also need a housing strategy involving new builds. Numerous actions to create more social housing must include housing for the most vulnerable. So it needs to be different. Some 80% of homeless people are single individuals. Young single males represent the highest percentage of homeless people in the country. European evidence has shown that providing housing first addresses complex needs. So we need a different type of housing build; we need single-person units to be in the mix also.

A shocking number of families have become homeless lately. As everybody is aware, the numbers have gone from 16 families in January 2013 to 48 families in January 2014. Although we need units built for them, we do not need all the builds to be three-bedroom houses. We need single-person units for single homeless people.

The housing strategy needs to involve the social partners, the Irish Council for Social Housing and all the approved bodies. I note that the Minister of State's high-level working group does not contain a representative from a voluntary housing association. It is made up of representatives of statutory bodies only. We believe that is a bit of a loss. Most local authority directors of housing will say that they work in partnership with voluntary housing associations and yet the high-level working group for homelessness the Minister of State has appointed does not contain a representative from a voluntary housing association. We need a new housing strategy and that needs to involve having all the players at the table.

We welcome the Minister of State' recent announcement of capital funding for the CA scheme, which is targeted towards new builds. The Peter McVerry Trust has some applications in on that. We know it is oversubscribed, but acquisitions also need to form part of the equation. New builds will take 18 months to two years to reach completion. At the last count in November, there were 139 homeless people on the streets in Dublin. The figures for the new homeless count are not yet published. We expect it will have dropped slightly but expect it to still be higher than it was in spring 2013. So we also need capital acquisitions.

The last time there was a call for the CA scheme, it was oversubscribed. If we get capital acquisitions, the trust along with other voluntary housing associations can turn those properties around in three to four months. So that shows the difference between acquisitions at three to four months and two years for a new build. It is also the only time to do it as the property prices are on the rise again. Now would be an ideal time to bring in acquisitions. If we wait any longer we will be paying more money for them.

We need regulation of the housing market and particularly of the rental market. In recent years as the boom was ending, the rental market was held out as a solution to end homelessness. The rental market is swamped now, rents are rising rapidly and there is no regulation of the rental market. The two lowest socioeconomic groupings make up the majority of homeless people. They qualify for rent supplement, which was meant to be a temporary measure.

Most landlords will now say that they will not accept social welfare rents. We need regulation and that needs to be linked with the Equality Authority. People are not allowed to discriminate against somebody on the basis of religion but it is possible to discriminate against somebody for being in one of the two lowest socioeconomic groupings in the country. We need something in the rental market to stop this discrimination against the poorest people in the country.

We need to do more to inform people of their rights and entitlements. The Peter McVerry Trust works very closely with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive. Working together in partnership, all the providers and the local authorities in Dublin are doing a huge amount to prevent people from losing their housing. Landlords are informing tenants they are increasing rents by €200 with only one month's notice, knowing that if the tenants - young person, couple or family - leave that home there will be a queue of other people to fill it. We need more prevention.

The DRHE, Threshold and Focus Ireland are developing an app and some information campaigns, informing people who feel they will not be able to come up with the rents ofwhat they can do. They can apply and we can advocate for them to stay and argue with the landlord. Landlords cannot simply increase rents by 25% overnight. Evidence on the ground has shown that because people are coming from the two lowest socioeconomic groupings, they are not aware of their rights. They may not be as educated as the landlord. They are walking out and leaving the facility just before the next rent payment is due. We feel we could keep them in the facility if they engage with us.

We need to cut out all evictions. We cannot be evicting the poorest of people into homelessness. The local authorities have recently done considerable work with partners to reduce that. Voluntary housing agencies, such as the Peter McVerry Trust, Focus Ireland and others can do a considerable amount to work with those families with such challenges to ensure they stay in their homes.

Nobody wants anti-social behaviour next door to us, but it can be managed. The Peter McVerry Trust has run a specialist programme for sex offenders for the past ten years.

Nobody wants to live next door to a sex offender but we have managed to house sex offenders directly in the community over the past ten years. That is one of the most problematic groups. We have done that because they cannot go into emergency shelters or they would be targeted and picked on. We have managed to work with communities to do that without any major difficulties. If we can do it with such a difficult group, we can do it with anybody else.

My main recommendations are prevention, an increase in the capital assistance scheme, regulation of the rental market and a housing strategy.