Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on the housing crisis. All Members of the House will be aware of the recent increase in the number of families in need of housing. The motion, tabled by the Technical Group, in highlighting the crisis also proposes sensible solutions to resolve the issue. It is important that this be acknowledged. There has been much talk about the issue and what we need are solutions. Yesterday we dealt with the Children First Bill 2014 which aims to put children first. There are 90,000 families on housing waiting lists. I would like to see the children of these families being put first in this debate. These children need a stable and warm home.

There is a housing and homelessness emergency that must be addressed as a matter of urgency. It is accepted by all parties that current housing resources and supports are at breaking point. The current arrangements are forcing many people on rent assistance which has been set below market rent level to engage in making illegal top-up payments to landlords in order to sustain their housing arrangements. There is also a shortage of private rented accommodation across the country and where accommodation is available, it is increasingly unaffordable. There is a lack of alternative housing options available.

There are 132,000 families in local authority housing. We need to build on this figure and Dublin City Council needs our support in addressing the issue. Another issue which is often neglected is that of low paid workers. I was visited yesterday at one of my clinics by a young couple whose joint income is in the region of €59,000 per annum and who wanted to purchase a two bedroom apartment or a small house but had been refused a mortgage by Bank of Ireland and the EBS. I am assisting them in this matter. It must be remembered that we are dealing not only with those on benefits but also people on low incomes.

As stated by Deputy John Lyons, coming into the House to complain is not enough. We need to work together to come up with solutions. As I stated, the motion not only highlights the sad realities but also puts forward sensible solutions to the problem. I support the calls for a stimulus measure to promote private housing construction aimed at meeting identified housing needs. I welcome the return by the Government to construction of general need social housing. It should set a target of increasing social housing to 20% of total housing stock as outlined in Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

To achieve this would increase social housing output to 10,000 units per annum. I support this and it needs to be done. Mechanisms must be explored to improve access to finance for approved housing bodies, for example, the review and revision of the capital advance leasing facility to make it more financially viable; removal of barriers to access financing through the Housing Finance Agency; and the protection of capital assistance scheme for special needs groups, including people who are homeless. The 2011 housing policy statement recognised that the not-for-profit housing sector has a significant role to play in the social housing supply. This is another sensible proposal.

We must seriously examine NAMA, which must deliver on the number of properties it releases for social housing. The Government estimates that 4,500 social housing units announced in the 2014 budget will come from NAMA transfers. Since the establishment of NAMA the transfer of units to social housing has been extremely slow. As of 31 March, 518 NAMA properties had been transferred to social housing, with 166 units contracted for which completion work is ongoing.

Within any social housing developments, for general and special needs, there must be ring-fencing for people moving out of homelessness. Although I support the Government's tenure neutral policy on housing, it should be backed up by a number of actions to improve the rights of tenants and increase access to good quality private renter accommodation. We must encourage more institutional investors, such as pension funds, to invest in the private rented sector by means of real estate investment trusts provided for in the 2013 budget. Rent relief must be reintroduced as a means of countering non-declaration of rental income by landlords. We need rent controls linked to the consumer price index and rental index to protect tenants, especially those at risk of homelessness, from rapid price increases. If more use of the private rented sector is to be made to move people out of homelessness, measures must be put in place to ensure greater security of tenure in order that the tenant can see his or her rental property as a home and not be in fear that the landlord will sell on the property. These are some of my proposals. They have support across the Technical Group. I urge the Minister to examine them and get on with the job.

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