Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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I welcome Mr. Jordan's comments about the kind of legislation and changes that are needed to protect people in the private rental sector. I am going to confine my remarks to the private rental sector rather than modular housing, which has nothing to do with Threshold. The majority of social housing units, as it says on page 8 of Threshold's submission, is going to be sourced in the private rental sector. This is something the committee needs to take on board. The private rental sector is an insecure place that is leading to homelessness and yet most of the increased social units are still situated in the private rental sector. Does Mr. Jordan have an idea of how many units will come from the private rental sector? According to the Government's figures, 75,000 units will come from the private rental sector and 35,000 units from the public sector. Even within those 35,000 units, some are leased and are therefore still coming from the private rental sector. Does Mr. Jordan agree that this is a policy that needs to completely change? Threshold's report nailed the absolute lie that the private rental sector can provide security for people when it is based on profit.

I wish to ask Mr. Jordan about overholding. Overholding describes a tenant staying in a property beyond the termination date. According to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, this increased by 50% between 2013 and 2014. How many people does Mr. Jordan envisage becoming homeless because of termination notices rather than rent increases? Does he have any figures on that? Overholding is the biggest issue about which people contact me for advice and I am sure that is the case for other Deputies too. I understand that Threshold can only advise people to stay within the law. Its website is very good for pointing people in the right direction. However, there is a limit to what Threshold can do. Does Mr. Jordan agree with me that people face overholding or homelessness? Is that now the choice for those people? As a public representative, I have had to advise people to stay in the property and to overhold. I am now advising people to do that because I am not going to be responsible for ringing the council three days later looking for non-existent accommodation for somebody who voluntarily left a property.

Does Mr. Jordan agree that this is the only choice people have?

How much of their incomes are families paying in private rent? What impact does this have on their lives? We will talk to the Department about top-up payments, but research carried out by Threshold indicates that half of all tenants are paying top-up payments to landlords. The One Family Ireland group has found that three quarters of lone parents are having to do this.

With rent increases, security of tenure presents the biggest problem because landlords are using a legal mechanism to get rid of tenants. Sometimes the intention is to sell the property but more often it is not. Landlords have resorted to using all sorts of tactic such as having painters and decorators come while a family are still in situto pressurise them to get out. They send text messages and use other subtle means to get rid of tenants and which causes huge stress. Threshold advocates the introduction of laws on security of tenure to make it similar to the commercial sector in which tenants stay in situ,even if ownership changes. How does this work in the commercial sector? My information is that in the commercial sector NAMA has succeeded in securing rent decreases for 99% of applicants. We need rents to be decreased for residential tenants, but there does not seem to be any way this can be brought about except by legislation. Does Threshold have any idea of what benefit that would have?