Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is general agreement across all the parties that there is a crisis in housing. The extent of the crisis might be a point of difference but every day in my constituency office, the majority of people are coming in about issues related to housing. Many of those issues relate to mortgage distress and the people who are coming in are looking for advice and solutions. The general consensus is that the current supports that are in place are not working. They come to us to plead for a way to save their homes. They are worried sick, unable to sleep at night.

The other problems we hear a lot about relate to social housing. In my area the list is getting longer. If the person loses his home, there is a waiting list to see the housing office to get on to the list and then there could be a wait of up to six years.

One of the most obscene things that happened as a result of the madness of the property boom is that there is empty accommodation across the State under NAMA when there are people sitting on the housing lists for years. There are no ghost estates in my area but there is empty accommodation. I do not know if it would be suitable for families but it would be suitable for students and young nurses working in the hospital. There are plenty of people who need accommodation who cannot get it at the moment. It is obscene, therefore, that accommodation is lying empty. People cannot understand that.

Some Members and journalists would rubbish the call for a housing programme where we would start building houses but there is a need for housing in this city. There is a need for local accommodation and a roll-out of social housing. We know that housing stock has shrunk so this problem exists across Dublin. We have put forward solutions, such as write-downs of a portion of mortgage debt among other options. There could be more direct action by the Central Bank to force lending institutions to adopt a more lender-friendly approach to the mortgage crisis. NAMA should have to contribute to the social and economic development of the State by providing more housing units from its portfolio that would be suitable for social housing. There must be a plan to commence the building of at least 5,000 units by the end of 2013, with a further 4,000 by the second half of 2014. That ticks all the boxes in that people get accommodation and jobs are created. It also fulfils the basic right to housing. Deputy Adams is right - surely a basic tenet of a republic should be that a person should have access to a roof over his head? We know to our cost the number of people who feel there is nowhere safe for them to go, with many of them ending up homeless as a result.

This is a genuine attempt to address a problem that faces us as a society. What we are doing now is crazy. People are critical of the actions of speculators but instead of giving people a home through a programme of social housing, we are putting more and more money into the pockets of private landlords. There is a lack of inspection of private accommodation and there are numerous difficulties that people face in the private rental market. Most of all they will never have a permanent home where they can settle and raise their families.

We need a great deal of support here. That is basically what we are saying. My party's motion speaks of supporting those who are in the middle of this crisis. It is a genuine attempt. No one should engage in partisan politics in this regard. If we are doing our job as political representatives, we should know there is a crisis out there.

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