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

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Bille seo ach tá imní orm maidir le rudaí áirithe. I welcome the Bill in so far as it allows elected public representatives to take part in the setting of rent rates in all local authorities. This already happens in some areas but currently it is not set out in law.

Any system that allows rent levels to be set by a county or city manager without input from the elected representatives who are accountable to the people is wrong. Local councillors are best placed to ascertain the reality on the ground in respect of housing in their areas. They know better than most the cost of private renting and purchasing property. They are acutely aware from their local work of the standard of living of the people in the area, as well what they can afford, what they need and where they need it. This Bill will allow councillors to do that job and enable the people to hold decision makers to account.

It is unfortunate that we have waited over two years for a Housing Bill. This Bill is welcome but it leaves many important issues to be addressed in two other planned Housing Bills, which I fear will be similarly narrow. Housing remains a major problem in this State. The Government's failure to tackle this problem has allowed needs to grow, rents to rise, conditions to deteriorate and savvy landlords to make profits in the absence of public provision. The Government has failed tenants, homeowners and those seeking a home, and this Bill will do nothing to change that. The Minister of State is aware of these failures and I believe she wants to address them but neither the Government nor her Department has any desire to act. I am tired of pointing out that housing needs are at their highest since the foundation of the State and that many applicants have been on housing waiting lists for years but I must continue to do so while the figures are not decreasing. It is a millstone around the Government's neck that we cannot let it forget. Something can be done but nothing is being done.

The depletion of our housing stock, the over reliance on the voluntary sector and the drive to subsidise private landlords and developers providing below standard housing at a very high price are not new policies but they are being happily pursued by this Government. The Government continues to spend over €500 million per year on rent supplement and RAS. This is tantamount to an admission of failure. Instead of building homes and collecting rent the State funnels huge sums of public money into private hands to provide unsustainable and insecure housing. What has the Government done to cut this bill? It is certainly not providing real public housing.

The Minister for Social Protection, who thankfully will not have her hands on rent supplement for much longer, attempted to use rent supplement recipients as a tool to beat down rents and reduce costs. Not only did this tactic fail miserably in reducing rents but it also left many families in precarious situations and put some on the street. Where once the State provided housing now it is pushing families out of their homes because adequate housing is not cost effective in a housing support system. Focus Ireland reported earlier on this year but nothing has changed. Rent supplement recipients are now being asked to reduce their rent below market norms at a time when rents are on the increase. In 2012 there were four times fewer homes available for rent in Dublin than in 2009. Dublin rents rose by 6% between 2010 and 2012. Rents are likely to increase further as rental properties remain scarce. This is the result of emphasising housing support over housing provision. Housing supports are not about supporting the people who need housing but about shirking the Government's responsibility and subsidising landlords. Yesterday the Government tabled a Bill which will see an increase in repossessions. With nearly 50,000 buy-to-let mortgages in distress, there will be huge repercussions for the rental market and the cost of rent. Landlords who survive will be able to charge even more extortionate rents for flats which are below par.

I have dealt with a considerable number of families facing eviction after the banks rolled in to take control of the homes they were renting. They paid their rent and kept their side of the bargain but now with the banks desire to sell on the property for a quick buck or simply it's unwillingness to act as landlord, these families face being left homeless. Worst of all is the fact that many of these rents are being subsidised by the public purse. Landlords are not using the money they are being paid to secure the homes of these families. This is a disgrace. People on rent supplement and RAS are in low income brackets and are in no position to go searching for new accommodation at a time when rents are spiralling. Increasingly landlords are advertising that rent supplement will not be accepted. I have raised this issue until I have turned blue in the face. I have called for a code of conduct for banks and lending institutions to protect tenants. Sinn Féin has called for tighter control over the rent supplement system to ensure that the best deal is reached for the public purse and that tenancies are managed and secured. None of our recommendations has been heeded. RAS was sold as a great step for people stuck in the rent supplement poverty trap. People who signed up could work and were guaranteed that they would be housed. Now I am dealing with families in RAS who face eviction by banks, some of which are owned by the State and because no social housing is being built the local authority cannot live up to its side of the bargain. These families sit at home waiting for the knock at the door to throw them out. This is not news to the Minister of State or her Department.

However, the problem goes beyond provision of housing. Standards have been allowed to deteriorate or remain poor, particularly in the large urban centres. A recent inspection blitz by Dublin City Council found that 90% of flats in certain parts of Dublin did not meet the most basic of standards. These figures make for disturbing reading even though I was already aware that conditions of housing on the bottom rung are very poor.

Dublin is returning to the days of the slum landlord and it is certainly not alone in this regard. This is not 1913 and the current conditions are not acceptable in this day and age.

When we tell people their rent is too high to continue to be eligible for rent supplement, we are telling them to move to slums because we will not support them elsewhere. People do not choose to live in slums; they live in them because the Government has not provided an alternative. With this in mind, it is especially scandalous that the Government has seen fit to extend the responsibilities of the Private Residential Tenancies Board, while declining to provide the PRTB with any State funding. As a result, the board has been forced to cut staff and outsource services. The Government has given some mealy-mouthed commitments but provided little to assist in achieving them.

Local authorities will have greater powers to act on shared ownership agreements. Seizures are already taking place in this area. The proposed solutions rehash failed policies. As I stated, housing held by the National Asset Management Agency will not be used for social housing provided by local authorities but transferred under lease arrangements to voluntary housing bodies. The ever increasing role of the voluntary housing sector in delivering housing needs at the expense of local authorities is a worrying trend. While there is no doubt the sector performs a magnificent and welcome role, this should not come at the expense of local authorities which have traditionally done a great job in delivering and managing social housing. It is also infuriating that properties leased by NAMA under these arrangements will be returned to developers when the lease agreements conclude in ten, 15 or 20 years. Thus far, only a few hundred homes have been delivered under this arrangement and only for a limited period.

The State cannot run away from the fact that the private sector is neither willing nor able to provide the housing needed by 98,000 people on the housing waiting list. It is failing to provide proper housing for many of the 94,000 people on rent supplement. In addition, the 24,000 people on the rental accommodation scheme are in an insecure position because buy-to-let mortgages are under threat following the Government's decision to close a loophole that is preventing many repossessions.

Sinn Féin has proposed measures to implement a major house-building initiative which would result in work commencing on 9,000 new homes in the next two years and thereby create employment, reduce rents and remove people from housing waiting lists. We have called on local authorities to renegotiate rent supplement and rental accommodation scheme rates and asked the Government to take some appropriate NAMA housing into permanent public ownership. While these measures would not solve the crisis overnight, they would constitute a start and show the Government is serious about providing housing and meeting its objective of ending homelessness.

Landlords are increasingly playing hardball with tenants by resisting cuts in rent supplement payments. People are panicking and frantically searching for new places to live on lower rents based on the new rent supplement rates set by the Department of Social Protection. The special purpose vehicle established in NAMA to deliver social housing through leasing initiatives for local authorities and voluntary housing bodies appears to be proceeding on a "go slow" basis, which is not good enough.

The Minister of State indicated it is her intention to reform section 62 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act. Such reform is urgently required as many families and local authorities are seriously worried about some families who are causing serious anti-social problems. The Supreme Court ruling in this matter and the response of the European Court of Justice need to be urgently addressed.

I welcome the decision to remove section 31(6) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act. Local authorities have traditionally set rents on the basis of household income and it would be wrong to change the position.

The housing sector has become an increasingly large problem and two further housing Bills are due to be introduced. I do not know what was the Minister of State's position on the property tax or whether she resisted the decision to impose the charge on local authority housing. The tax will inevitably be added to rents. Given that local authority housing was traditionally excluded from such taxes, I appeal to the Government not to apply the property tax to the local authority sector.

Thousands of homes are at risk of experiencing problems caused by pyrite. The Minister must urgently progress the measures he has introduced to tackle the problem.

I am concerned about the problems faced by residents of Priory Hall, which is an example of a housing development that turned into a disaster. The problems of the residents have not yet been sorted out and while I accept the matter is before the courts, pressure must be applied to have the problem addressed.

It is a good idea to shift the eligibility criteria for social housing in all local authorities to time on record. The process whereby some local authorities use a points system while others use different mechanisms for allocating social housing is flawed. I concur with the Minister of State on the necessity to standardise the system. This should be done quickly as constituents of mine have been on housing waiting lists for ten, 15 and 20 years without making progress. Moreover, others have joined the waiting list ahead of them and managed to secure social housing, which is a scandal.

The Minister of State indicated that local authorities will assume responsibility for the administration of rent supplement. This is a welcome decision as all matters related to rent supplement should be handled by local authorities. The Minister of State indicated previously that responsibility for the matter would transfer in 2014. Is that still the case? It is important that rapid progress is made on this matter.

While I support the Bill in principle, closing a loophole could open a Pandora's box and result in an increase in the number of repossessions. This possibility should be carefully examined and rules and regulations implemented, including the introduction of a code of practice for the lending institutions. Having spoken to representatives of Ulster Bank and other financial institutions, I was extremely unhappy with their position on this matter. For this reason, it will be necessary to engage further with the lending institutions to ensure the closure of a loophole will not be exploited. The provisions of the Bill could technically provide greater scope to local authorities to repossess homes purchased under the shared ownership scheme. I am concerned because problems may arise for any agreement made prior to 2009.

I look forward to the other two housing Bills the Government plans to introduce. It is a pity they will not be expedited because the housing crisis is getting worse.

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