Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá ceithre bliana déanta agam istigh anseo mar Theachta Neamhspleách don dáilcheantar Baile Átha Cliath Láir. Ceapaim go mbíonn cúrsaí tithíochta i measc na fadhbanna is mó a ardaítear liom gach lá. Every single day, my office gets numerous calls on housing matters and problems of one sort or another relating to housing. I would love to see a strenuous and comprehensive campaign and programme to take on all of the aspects of housing, whether it is local authority housing, private rented housing, ghost estates, the role of NAMA or the housing associations. An ancillary problem that is very bad in Dublin Central is the issue of waste management and illegal dumping, which is becoming almost a plague in certain parts of the inner city. It keeps being pushed between the local authority and the Department and there is not a very strong programme to deal with it.

In considering the Bill, one issue is the harmonisation of rents with the local authority and the housing assistance scheme. I know the Bill will see responsibility for long-term rent supplement recipients moving from the Department of Social Protection to the local authorities. One point that is very positive about Bill is that it will take into account the financial circumstances of households. We know that household circumstances do change in the changing economic climate of today. Therefore, a rent that was appropriate at one time in a particular circumstance will not be appropriate at another time. The issue of dependants is another that comes up constantly, particularly with regard to how many people are on the floor and off the floor. We need a very efficient system to deal with this.

I deal with the Dublin City Council offices in Sean McDermott Street, Parnell Street, Cabra and the Civic Offices. I want to acknowledge the co-operation of Dublin City Council and the hard work of the staff when I and those in my office are in touch with them on the variety of issues that arise when dealing with housing.

With regard to estate management, it is a feature of the local authorities that they have a method of dealing with issues that arise. Much of this has to do with anti-social behaviour, violence and drugs. At least when it is local authority housing there is a mechanism under which the tenants and the local authority can be brought in and there can be a mediation process which will deal with the issues. We know there are certain tenants in local authority areas who cause havoc for the other residents living there and make life unbearable for those who want to live their lives in a peaceable way.

There are a number of "buts" that have to be addressed when it comes to local authority housing. First, there is a major shortage of public housing in Dublin Central, where there are more than 2,300 households on the north inner city housing list, which covers just one part of the constituency, and more than 800 of those have been on that list for over five years. At the same time, there are at least 120 vacant council housing units in the area but Dublin City Council does not have an adequate budget to bring them into use. It is very disappointing, when going about the different complexes and housing estates in the constituency, to see these perfectly good houses and flats boarded up when some work could turn them around quickly. In fact, the turnaround period is getting longer. There are places waiting over three years to be turned around when, at the same time, we are looking at very long housing lists. It comes down to a funding issue. Dublin City Council is dependent on an additional budget from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to hire contractors to carry out this work. As a result of that shortage of public housing, people on the housing list are being directed more and more into the private rented sector. More than half of households in the north inner city are in private rented accommodation. This now seems to be Government policy, because the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government housing policy statement in June 2011 foresaw an even greater role for voluntary and private housing sectors in meeting housing needs in the future. That will mean an increasing reliance on the private housing market at a time when supply in that area is under fierce pressure in the city. We know the pressure on the private rental market in Dublin is leading to higher than expected rent increases.

This morning I read the report from Threshold containing its latest figures. The latest index figures reveal an overall average monthly rental figure of €785 on a mid-adjusted basis. However, rents in Dublin are averaging €974. Nationally rents have increased by 2% compared with the figure in the first quarter of 2012. We know there are large numbers of landlords who are not registered with the PRTB. This means their tenants are more likely to make up top-up payments which mask the real rent levels. The bottom line is, however, that rents are too high. The PRTB index shows that the strategy of the Department of Social Protection aimed at bringing down rents by reducing rent supplement has not worked because rents are staying stubbornly high. I agreed with the Minister because I thought that bringing down the level of rent supplement would bring down rents because people were paying far too much for the accommodation they were getting. However, the strategy has not worked and must be looked at again. I also see tenants trying to negotiate with some of these landlords on retns and other issues being put at a very strong disadvantage.

As I have been trying to raise an issue during the Topical Issue debate for the past two weeks without success, I will talk about it today. It concerns an alarming report on housing from Dublin City Council. It was produced with funding provided by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for Dublin City Council on an intensified inspection system. The council inspected over 1,500 private rented dwellings, mainly in two areas in the north inner city that are notorious for having very poor landlords. It found that over 90% of flats did not meet basic standards; therefore, 90% of people in certain areas are living in accommodation that is completely unsuitable. Some of the problems in 1,400 of the 1,500 dwellings include unsafe electrics, no private bathrooms, rooms without windows, damp, mould and inadequate heating. What is happening in these parts of the inner city marks a return to the tenements about which Seán O'Casey wrote in plays such as The Plough and the Starsand Juno and the Paycock. We are back to slum conditions which I see in my constituency. Tenants will rent perhaps one or two rooms and then sublet; sometimes there are no adequate figures for how many people are living in some of these tenements.

Landlords were served with over 1,500 notices to improve their flats, which is fair enough. This new system of inspection involves choosing an area. What is alarming, however, is that under the inspection programme, a property cannot be re-let until it is brought up to standard but existing tenants can remain in situ. The tenants in the 90% of accommodation that is substandard are forced to continue living in it. All it takes is for the unsafe electrics to go on fire and we will have a situation akin to what has happened in factories in Bangladesh. It is appalling. I welcome the money granted, but there is no point in finding out that something is wrong unless the system is in palce to do something about it. That is the issue.

I have another question about some of the landlords involved: are they tax-compliant? Again, I do not think we know the answer because so many of them are not registered with the PRTB. The report also states 75% of those landlords in Dublin who split houses into flats did so illegally. Therefore, in addition to tenants subletting, landlords have gone down that road also.

I know that some tenants in private rented accommodation are causing untold problems for the communities in which they are living. I hear about these problems at every community forum meeting I attend. They range from anti-social behaviour, violence, dumping to total and utter disregard for the community. Unlike local authority housing, there is no redress system. One community had to wait over one year before it, the local authority and the Garda eventually got the landlord to do something about it. In that year the lives of people living on either side of this particularly unruly rented dwelling were made miserable. It affected their mental health and shattered their peace of mind. There is a real need for this issue to be dealt with and I do not know if the PRTB can take it all on. Again, it goes back to the increasing demand on the private rented sector because local authorities do not have enough housing available.

In parts of the inner city there are lovely apartment complexes that are beautiful inside but which have no play areas or open spaces for children. Some of these apartment blocks house single people or couples who have no children; therefore, they are not particularly interested in having a play area and do not want to hear children kicking a football around. The lack of adequate play spaces for children living in apartment complexes is causing problems. We are talking about encouraging people to exercise more and children getting out into the fresh air, but if they are living in some of these apartment complexes, there is no safe area for them to play in.

There is no doubt that there are problems with homelessness. Again, this is happening at a time when budgets are decreasing and it is in the inner city and parts of central Dublin that there is an amount of accommodation available for homeless people, which is valuable. However, homelessness is not confined to Dublin city; it affects other areas also. Therefore, these facilities must be spread. They are very welcome, but there is a need for more of them and we need to look at where services are being provided.

We know the housing associations are doing great work, but I would like to see regulations in order that if there are problems with tenants, there will be a mechanism in place to address them. In 2012, 484 NAMA properties in the Dublin City Council area were identified as having the potential to be used for social housing. This is another process that is proving to be incredibly slow and very cumbersome and awkward to deal with. We have people with housing needs and housing is available in some cases, but the dots are not being joined. Housing is a huge issue. There are so many pieces of the jigsaw, but they are not coming together. There is, therefore, a need for a comprehensive programme on housing generally.

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