Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important matter. Voluntary housing has been one of the success stories of the past decade and it is an area of activity with which I am proud to have been involved. We are living in a protracted period of unprecedented levels of housing construction and it is important not to lose sight of the important role played by the voluntary sector. More than 600 approved voluntary bodies manage almost 19,000 housing units under the capital assistance programme and the capital loan and rental subsidy schemes. The capital assistance scheme has been used to great advantage in providing for specialised housing such as sheltered housing and housing for those with special needs, the elderly and so on.

For the most part, the capital loan and rental subsidy scheme is used to address demand in the area of mainstream social housing accommodation. Voluntary housing associations have been established in every county and communities are benefiting from their endeavours. The varied nature of the bodies approved by the Department is interesting, ranging in scale from local conferences of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or local community councils providing and managing a handful of properties to large associations such as Respond, which has delivered and is managing almost 3,500 units. It is important that Members should recognise, acknowledge and value the contribution of the sector not just to housing provision, but to community building.

I refer to two areas of concern for tenants of properties provided under the capital loan and rental subsidy scheme, namely the need to adjust the rent scheme where it applies at 18% of all household income and the need to introduce a tenant purchase scheme, similar to that available to local authority tenants. I have engaged with the Minister of State on this on previous occasions. In raising these issues, I am conscious of a number of relevant points, not least that in many areas, integrated housing developments on the same site are coming on stream involving the local authority, voluntary and private sectors. In addition, a number of councils are engaging the services of voluntary housing associations to deliver their own social housing programmes. Against this background it is important to recognise that those on local authority waiting lists who avail of tenancies from voluntary housing associations do so of necessity rather than by preference in the great majority of cases. If they do not avail of the voluntary association offer, they may often be left waiting indefinitely by their local authority. Consequently, tenants of an approved housing body may live next door, in an identical house, to a tenant of a local authority. Both originated from the same local authority waiting list and both houses are 100% funded by the Exchequer. More often than not, however, the tenant of the voluntary housing association pays a higher rent, as the scheme is fixed at 18% of household income whereas the differential schemes operated by local authorities tend to be more favourable to the tenants of council houses. For example, tenants of the Cill Urnaí housing association at Kilberry outside Athy pay 18% of their household income, whereas tenants of Athy Town Council, just down the road, avail of the differential rent scheme where the rent is based on 15% of the principal earner's income. This is hardly fair. It is something I hope the Minister can review.

The same principle of equity should apply in the area of tenant purchase. Take what has happened at Monasterevin in County Kildare for example. Here, the local voluntary housing association constructed an estate of 28 houses. Twenty of these houses were to be occupied by members of the association, namely, people who had come together some years previously to build the housing scheme with the active support of local community activists. These 20 prospective tenants had an on-going involvement in all aspects of the housing project. When the houses were complete, eight were allocated to tenants of Kildare County Council which subsequently allocated the houses to families from its waiting list, the same list from which the 20 voluntary members came originally.

Despite being involved from the start in the development of the housing scheme, the voluntary housing association tenants cannot avail of a purchase scheme, while their neighbouring council tenants can. To put it more bluntly, those who have used the capital loan and rental subsidy scheme as a self-help initiative have found themselves disadvantaged. This is unfair and unjust and requires attention.

While some of the larger voluntary housing associations oppose in principle the concept of a purchase scheme, we must remember that there was once a lobby which opposed the sale of council houses to their tenants. The introduction of a tenant purchase scheme would unleash a new dynamic in the voluntary sector and encourage an even greater level of provision. I urge the Minister to consider this matter.

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