Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is ironic tonight that we debated the Children First Bill before this important topic of housing provision. The Children First Bill is trying to undo many legacy issues that are fundamentally about the failure of the State in the past. In years to come, will we be resolving the matter of housing provision where we are seeing men, women and children on a routine basis becoming homeless? How is the State putting those children and their families first?

I have permission to refer to the likes of Grainne Mallon, who was made homeless in Sallins last week and interviewed on KFM this morning, as well as the mother and children who are sleeping in a car in the Newbridge area who will be interviewed tomorrow on the same station. It is appalling that people have to put themselves out so publicly at a time of such stress, leaving themselves open to be the subject of debate and ridicule by those who, I hope, will never find themselves so exposed. This week alone, I am dealing with 12 cases of homelessness, ten of which are families with children. Unfortunately, there is another ten families with notice to quit that will be added to the list in the coming week or weeks. Every day people are turning up at my office with the same problem. In the first three months of this year, Kildare County Council dealt with 80 families. Its homeless budget is exhausted. For most, there will be no hostel, no bed and breakfast or temporary accommodation. Instead, they will be told to find a relative or a friend with a couch.

I am talking about people like Jessica who is due her baby in a couple of weeks. She was given notice early in January and she presented homeless to Kildare County Council. She has a four year old daughter who is in junior infants. Until January, Jessica was in college but has had to drop out. She has chased every available rented property and has widened her field of search into all the neighbouring counties. When I met her first she was optimistic and confident. Now, she is stressed out, fearful emotional and tearful. She is now refused maternity payments because she has no address. She has been admitted to hospital twice in the past couple of weeks. She should be looking forward to her new baby; that should be her major concern. The irony is the hospital will not let her leave when she has the baby if she has no baby seat in the car but will do nothing if she has no home to go to.

Julie is a part-time worker and is expecting twins in six weeks. She presented homeless in March. She and her daughter are on the housing list since 2005. She and her child are staying temporarily with her mother who has a tiny one-bedroom flat. She is stressed out, not the condition in which a pregnant mother should be. Where is the concern for these unborn children and these young women? Emma and her partner have two children, one of which is three months old. They have been on the housing list since 2008. Their landlord is being forced to sell the house by the bank. This couple have been searching day and night for the past three months for alternative accommodation which is simply not available. Again, how is the State putting these children first or even considering their needs? These are functioning families who care deeply for their children but are being failed when they most need the support of a compassionate State.

Why is this occurring? It is because there is a shortage of housing. Low-income families must rent because they will not get a mortgage, yet renting is often the more expensive option. The more wages are driven down, the less discretion people have to purchase a home. Accordingly, renting is the only option and will continue to be. High rents are also impacting on those at work. Rising rents are sucking money out of low to middle income workers which will inevitably impact on the economy. That is why countries like Germany control rent increases because the cost of shelter can be damaging to the competitiveness of the economy. Even in the USA rents are controlled.

There are 90,000 individuals or families on the housing waiting list nationally. Half of them, 45,000 are located in three counties or just six local authority areas, three in Dublin, two in Cork and Kildare. These are the very same locations where the pressure on rents is at its highest. In the absence of local authority or housing association builds, the only option for those who earn just above the limits to qualify for the housing list is to rent. However, rents are becoming increasingly unaffordable to all. Those in receipt of rent assistance are finding it increasing impossible to find accommodation with an increasing number of landlords refusing to accept rent assistance. Some of this is due to the complicated process but mostly it is about the rent caps. They are way below the market rents in many locations. People are routinely topping up or paying the difference to the landlord under the table. Focus Ireland told the environment committee recently that the Department of Social Protection was turning a blind eye to fraud. It is the poor who are the subject of this fraud, however.

The same organisation discussed the issues of unaffordable rents and topping up, issues on which it had done some good research, with the Department in 2012. The Department looked for the names of people who were topping up. When Focus Ireland asked what the Department would do if given the names, it stated it would stop their rent assistance. In other words, it would make them homeless. Despite the denials of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, top-ups are a widespread occurrence. She knows it and to say otherwise in this Chamber is to mislead the House.

What are the solutions? The Government must first accept there is a crisis. The Government's amendment to this motion confirms to me it is in denial. It needs to look at the facts and stop believing the spin. It must review the very flawed system of rent caps. The British model is much more nuanced. The community welfare officers must be allowed to use more discretion to prevent people becoming homeless which often saves money. The Government must resolve the issues for the housing associations that will make it possible to draw down up to €500 million from the European Investment Bank. It needs more than a voluntary regulation code and it may mean the Government has to underwrite some of the loans. We need to grow up and realise we need a strategy for the provision of housing, where both the public and private sector have a role and where an affordable and secure public rental sector is part of the housing mix. We need to address the crazy procurement policies for local authorities which often mean it can take six months to re-let local authority housing units. There are 49 such houses in Kildare which could be re-let but will not be available for months.

In many ways, the crisis that started with the economic crash in 2007 is worse now than ever before. The impacts have been deferred but are being felt in a real way now. The issue of unsustainable mortgages has got to a point that we are going to see largescale repossessions, adding thousands more to housing waiting lists that stand at 90,000 families. The Government’s amendment "welcomes the Government's commitment to end long-term homelessness by 2016." How will it do this? We deserve to know how.

The problem is getting worse by the night with people and their children sleeping in cars. We are better than this. I believe we are more humane than this. What is occurring is not acceptable to any right-thinking person. Focus Ireland, the Simon Community, Threshold, the Peter McVerry Trust, Crosscare and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul have said there is a crisis.

The Simon Community has said it is beyond a crisis and is heading towards a disaster. It is a real tragedy for the people who are the subject of it.

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