Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le Páirtí an Lucht Oibre as ucht tacú linn an rún seo a chur os comhair na Dála anocht.

In recommending this Private Members' motion to the House I will outline Sinn Féin's approach to housing and homelessness and speak to a number of central elements of the motion, which is co-sponsored by the Labour Party. Issues related to housing probably constitute the bulk of most public representatives' work throughout the country. In my own area it probably accounts for approximately 80% of the people coming to the various clinics or advice centres that I or the councillors in my area have. It is certainly the case at local authority level but I am sure if everybody in this House was asked what the bulk of their work would be at local level, it would be work dealing with housing and homelessness.

Sinn Féin believes housing is a right and not a privilege. Whereas the majority of people living in the State can afford to own or rent their own home, an increasing number cannot. That is a position which, unfortunately, is set to worsen given the current economic climate and the rapidly rising level of unemployment. There is also an increasing number of people who because of that economic situation are being forced out of accommodation which they were in the process of buying through a mortgage and on to the public housing lists.

I received figures tonight relating to the mortgage interest supplement which indicate the number of people availing of it has doubled in two years. That is a yardstick by which to measure the crisis we are facing. For such people, the State has a political and social responsibility to respond to their housing need and ensure they are adequately housed. That is not something which can be reneged on simply because the economic climate has changed. Addressing the housing problem is inextricably linked to the overall economy and particularly in an economy such as our own, where construction comprised such a major part and where so many people have recently lost their jobs.

Whereas social benefit measures such as rent supplement, mortgage interest supplement and the rental accommodation scheme have a role in addressing housing problems, it is Sinn Féin's view that the provision of social housing, funded by Government via local authorities, must be the central element in any successfully housing strategy. Unfortunately, that did not happen over the most recent period when more resources were available to the State than at any other time in our history.

Figures released last week by the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Michael Finneran, demonstrate two stark facts. The first is that housing need in the State is increasing every year and has now reached crisis proportions. In March this year, 59,000 households were in need of housing, languishing on local authority waiting lists. That figure has increased substantially since then, given the economic crisis. More than 40,000 children live in these households and the most frightening aspect of that figure is that it has grown to such an extent over the years of economic prosperity. Inevitably, unless immediate and urgent action is taken to tackle the waiting lists through a programme of public house building, it will continue to grow, perhaps even at a faster rate.

A second stark fact was outlined in the Minister of State's figures, although he did not understand how stark it was. The Government housing policy is failing, which is demonstrated by the fact that since 2005 housing need has increased by 30% and has doubled in the past decade. As I have said, this was at a time when the State was arguably in a better position than ever before to do something positive to turn that issue around. Unfortunately, it was content to allow the private sector and property developers dictate the housing agenda, often in ways that were detrimental to people either buying or attempting to buy their own homes.

Many of those issues are fundamental to the current overall economic position and the so-called credit crunch. The simple fact is that the Government is not spending enough money on social housing and, as a consequence, local authorities are not able to provide sufficient social housing to meet local needs.

In 2005 the Government's own think tank, the National Economic and Social Council, stated that the State would need 200,000 social houses by 2012 if the housing need was to be met. On the basis of the existing stock in 2005, this would require the building of 10,000 social housing units every year for seven years. Since then the Government has committed to and completed significantly lower numbers of social housing than suggested by NESC, especially when one takes into account tenant purchase and de-tenanting, which leads to local authority housing stock being reduced.

Everything is rosy in the amendment to be proposed by the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran. He will tell this House that in 2007 and 2008 the Government met its NDP commitments of 9,000 social units a year. However, this is still nowhere near the level of new social units required to meet either the NESC targets or the levels of need in society. It is also the case that Fianna Fáil's current partner in Government, the Green Party, made a commitment broadcast to everyone of building 10,000 social housing units a year if part of the Cabinet. The party has Ministers in Cabinet in Deputies Gormley and Eamon Ryan. They must explain yet another failure to fulfil a promise made to the people who put them where they are.

Sinn Féin also believes that the figure of 59,000 households in need is a significant and deliberate underestimation of the actual level of need across the State. When drafting the guidelines for the triennial housing needs assessment, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government instructed local authorities to remove a number of categories of households from the final figures. These households included people designated by the local authority as in need of social housing but who are either living in local authority housing that was overcrowded, those who are materially unsuitable or living in the private rented sector.

This is a cynical exercise in massaging the figures and in doing so it undermines attempts by local authorities to develop housing plans based on an honest and objective assessment of the levels of need in their areas. It also grossly underestimates the true level of unsatisfactory accommodation and effectively condemns a significant number of people to continue to live in below-standard accommodation and to be unable to improve their position by accessing local authority housing.

From a political perspective, the massaging of figures serves the short-term interest of the Government and the self-defeating purpose of pretending or seeking to portray the housing issue as not as bad as it actually is. Such tactics tend to backfire, as the many thousands of people affected are unlikely to be fooled by the rhetoric or massaging of figures.

Today I challenge both the Minister of State and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, to come clean and release the full figures for households deemed by the local authorities to be in need of social housing. That would at least give us a clearer and more accurate picture of the actual position and allow housing policy to be guided by a response to it. That works under the assumption that the political will exists for it.

As the joint Sinn Féin-Labour Party motion makes clear, our parties believe that in the current financial climate, Government and local authorities should do everything in their power to increase the stock of available social housing in the coming year. If unsold properties on the private market meet the standards required by local authorities, represent value for money for the taxpayer and are appropriate to the needs of families on waiting lists, the Government and local authorities should actively pursue the purchase of these properties, hopefully at or below building cost prices. In addition to meeting housing needs, it would have positive additional economic benefits.

With rising unemployment in the construction sector, the Government should also provide additional resources or loan guarantees to local authorities to commence an expanded social housing, new-build programme in the coming year. I again urge the Minister of State to examine regeneration areas, which are blighted due to the collapse of their ill-thought out PPPs. That approach would represent a significant boost to the construction sector and to the overall economy at the current time.

At the minimum, we need 10,000 new social houses to be provided per year, net of tenant purchase, if the needs of the 59,000 households on local authority waiting lists are to be met. I say "at the minimum" because the actual demand is undoubtedly higher. In addition, the numbers seeking to leave private accommodation, which they are currently either buying or renting, will increase significantly over the next period if, as predicted, the economy continues to be in a depressed condition.

At a time of rising demand and deepening recession, it makes both social and economic sense for the Government to invest in social housing. Failure to do so will not only further exacerbate our economic difficulties, but will also lead to a further increase in levels of need, with more families, including children, languishing on waiting lists in overcrowded, materially unsuitable accommodation, or in accommodation that they simply cannot afford.

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