Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The rent supplement scheme, RSS and rental accommodation scheme, RAS, are two schemes which, despite their flaws and their large cost to the State, are holding housing at the brink and have been doing so for a number of years. We have never had such a great need for social housing, with figures on waiting lists as high as 98,000 and 124,000 or more in receipt of RSS and RAS payments. Without these schemes, due to the absolute refusal of this Government to provide real, sustainable public housing, we would not simply have a housing crisis but a housing catastrophe. It is for this reason I raise this very serious issue today.

Across the State and especially in Dublin, we are facing a crisis within a crisis. I refer to the problem of landlords who are not paying their mortgages and who, in doing so, are potentially jeopardising the housing of thousands of people. In the last few weeks, I have dealt personally with five families in Dublin who are facing eviction due to the repossession of their rented homes. The lenders want to sell and wash their hands of the properties and, in some cases, are forcing the landlords to evict the families before they take over, even though these families are paying and are up to date with their rent.

I spoke to a mother of two in Drimnagh who is 13 years on the waiting list and afraid to leave her home to speak to somebody in the council offices because she may return to find herself evicted. She is also afraid to sit in her house as she does not know what she will face when the knock comes to the door. Emma is in the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and Dublin City Council promised her when signing up that she would not be allowed to go homeless. She is now facing that prospect but she should be guaranteed housing, as she was promised under the scheme.

To be fair to Dublin City Council, it wishes to carry out this promise, but how can this be done when social housing is in such short supply and funding is being cut? We need solutions to these problems. My colleague, Councillor Críona Ní Dhálaigh, has told me she believes that in her part of the city there are approximately 50 people in the early stages of what Emma is going through. The big solution is to provide sustainable public housing not endangered by the whims of the market, lenders or profit-driven landlords. The Minister of State knows that as much as I do. The more immediate solution is to force lenders to enter into a code of conduct with tenants, especially those with an assessed social housing need who may be particularly at risk of homelessness in the event of eviction. This should also include a recognition that tenants have paid deposits and made commitments which should be honoured by those in control of a property. Rent supplement and RAS tenants cannot afford to lose deposits and be thrown out on the street.

The Government must have a strategy for dealing with these grave problems and ensuring that people are not left homeless. We cannot pretend this is not happening. As we face increasing rates of repossession from banks and lending institutions, the problem will only become worse if nothing is done.

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