Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I wish to address a few different areas under this Bill. Many previous speakers gained experience while serving as members of local authorities and this informed their contributions to the debate.

Deputy McCormack referred to antisocial behaviour. The Bill attempts to strengthen the position of local authorities in dealing with such behaviour. It can be extremely difficult for other tenants or neighbours to be obliged to endure antisocial behaviour. The problem of illegal drug use can be dealt with under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Use of or dealing in such substances can be an issue for eviction, as can danger, injury or damage caused to any person who lives adjacent to the property of someone involved in such activity.

I have spoken to housing officials who attempt to deal with antisocial behaviour — I refer here to circumstances where such behaviour has given rise to extremely difficult situations — and I discovered that it is difficult to obtain evictions notices from the courts because, in many cases, judges state that local authorities have a responsibility to house individuals. It is difficult to argue with the logic of that. However, those obliged to cope with the perpetrators of antisocial behaviour are left to live in misery if the latter are not evicted.

The Minister stated that the Bill will transfer powers to local authorities, which will now have the ability to draw up their own charters. How will this stand up in court, particularly in circumstances where the State has a duty to house people and where local authorities are primarily responsible for the delivery of housing on behalf of the State? I will be interested in seeing how this will operate.

The way to deal with antisocial behaviour is to work with people, introduce tenancy schemes, base the allocation of houses on stricter criteria and build smaller combinations of units. With regard to the latter aspect, social unrest and bad behaviour have been more prevalent in large, sprawling housing estates. People in such estates who want to get on with their lives often find themselves in atrocious situations. A great deal must be done in the context of working with tenants and ensuring that they will not interfere with the lives of others. I accept that the latter is not always easy.

I am glad the issue of antisocial behaviour is being addressed in the Bill. However, it will be interesting to see how the relevant provisions operate in practice. Some people are obliged to live in appalling conditions where there is noise, intimidation, rubbish strewn about front gardens, etc. Certain individuals find such circumstances so intolerable that they will abandon their local authority homes. This, in turn, gives rise to event further complications. I hope the Bill will be successful in ameliorating the position for those who merely wish to get on with their lives.

Members have been contacted by those seeking to have the issue of homelessness addressed in the Bill. I received a submission from Sonas, which works with the victims of domestic violence and which is seeking that the needs of such individuals, if they have been obliged to leave their local authority homes, be addressed. Sonas wants these people to be recognised as being homeless and proposes that their names be placed on housing lists as a matter of urgency. This is a reasonable proposal and it reflects the position in which the victims of domestic violence, in most cases women with young children, find themselves.

The Bill will place the rental accommodation scheme on a statutory footing. I admit that the scheme has perhaps been slow in coming into operation which is due to the fact that the local authorities have not appointed adequate numbers of staff to oversee it. In addition, the staff who have been appointed may not have been sufficiently proactive in their approach. This valuable scheme, which is due for review during the current year, ensures that tenants have some form of security of tenure and that they are entitled to expect certain standards in respect of the accommodation they occupy. The latter is perhaps one of the reasons the scheme was slow to get off the ground, particularly as many private rented accommodation units were not up to standard. However, local authorities are now dealing directly with landlords and are guaranteeing them three to four years' worth of rent. As a result, such landlords know who will be their tenants for three to four years and are aware that they will not be without rental income at any stage during that period. In addition, the interests of tenants are being protected by the local authorities.

I am of the view that the scheme is working well and is easing the pressure that obtains in respect of rent supplement. In recent years, landlords in our cities were demanding high rents because that was what the market dictated. As a result, the level of rent supplement available from community welfare officers could not match the expectations of many landlords and tenants found themselves caught between two stools. Rents are now decreasing. On Friday last, I spoke to a person who lives on the south side of Cork city and whose rent recently fell from €1,200 to €900 per month. As always, the market finds its own level. The rental accommodation scheme is extremely positive in nature. There are many empty apartment blocks, etc., in Cork city and the council has reached agreement with certain of the owners of those properties to allow them to be used as part of the rental accommodation scheme.

The Bill addresses the issue of affordable housing but not to any great extent. The scheme of affordable housing has worked well. However, the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government was informed last week that some 3,700 affordable housing units have not yet been sold. Perhaps it is time to sell these units on the open market in order to facilitate people in owning their own properties. The economy is in a state of flux and property prices are falling. In many instances, the cost of affordable housing units is out of kilter with the price being charged on the open market. The affordable housing scheme is no longer attractive to buyers as a result of the potential clawback and the fact that they cannot upgrade or move on to other properties should they wish to do so. Circumstances are changing and it is my opinion that the affordable housing units to which I refer should be sold on the open market. This would facilitate those who can afford to do so to purchase their own properties.

I welcome certain of the provisions in the Bill. I hope they will give rise to improvements and will encourage those who wish to purchase their own properties.

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