Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo everything my colleague, Deputy Penrose, said. He has spoken a great deal of sense in regard to this legislation and I cannot disagree with any of the points he made. All of us who are dealing with housing issues on a day-to-day basis would echo what he said. He has a clear understanding of the issues.

I welcome this Bill. It is a positive development and it contains many positive aspects. In particular, I want to select one issue, the mandatory payment of rents through social welfare. It is a positive development in that it will ensure hopefully that people will not fall into substantial arrears. There are cases where families have fallen into arrears running to thousands of euro. They have difficulties managing funds and many of those households are probably also dealing with many other social issues. In tandem with that, we must radically overhaul the rent supplement system and ensure that moneys are paid directly to the landlord. This will ensure that the money is paid to the landlord and if an overpayment is made, it will be far easier to recoup it from a landlord than it would be from a tenant. The process that will apply will be similar to the scheme in respect of social welfare. The balance of the payment that will be made by the tenant to the landlord will be paid directly to the local authority and the local authority will then pay it on to the landlord, which is the process that applies to the rental accommodation scheme.

I wish to touch on the rental accommodation scheme which, in principle, is a good scheme but there are problems with it. I know of a case where a young family was approved by a local authority - not my local authority - for the rental accommodation scheme in a property. Families have to source the properties now rather than the local authorities. The previous tenant had been rehoused by the local authority because it was felt that the house was unfit for human habitation. That should not happen under any circumstances and it should not be facilitated by a local authority. We need to get back to a situation where there is proper monitoring of these properties prior to the tenant going into a property in the first place. It needs to be made clear that the lease is a long-term one and not only for summer months and that account must be taken of the winter months. It should be explained to tenants the downfalls in regard to a particular type of heating system and the impact of the lack of insulation, if a house is not insulated, during the winter months. It is too late when a family is in a house for six months and finds out that there is a problem with the house.

Another problem with the rental accommodation scheme, which discourages people from taking it up, is that people are taken off the housing list. They cannot get a long-term local authority house if they are on the rental accommodation scheme. That is a disincentive and it needs to be examined.

I want to pick up on the issue of anti-social behaviour which has been raised and provision in this respect has been made in the legislation, for which I commend the Minister of State. However, it does not address the issue in regard to rent supplement scheme. As far as the Department is concerned, this is an issue for the Department of Social Protection and even thought that Department is paying more than €400 million a year in rent supplement for 86,000 houses, it is saying that the issue of anti-social behaviour is not an issue for it, rather it a matter for the landlord. There are communities who are being terrorised because of one delinquent tenant in a private housing estate or in a private accommodation in a public estate as the landlord is not prepared to take action in regard to one tenant. Even though the State is bankrolling that tenancy it is not prepared to intervene. That must stop. People cannot be left in a situation where families are allowed to run riot purely because they are being funded by the State, yet the State is not prepared to intervene and tell them that they will be out on their ear unless they behave in a normal manner.

Another issue I wish to raise in regard to the rent supplement scheme is the fact that the thresholds have not been revised. We have huge problems because of that in parts of the country and it is not isolated to the east coast. It is a problem in my constituency where families cannot get accommodation because of the rent thresholds that are in place. It is not only an issue in County Roscommon, it is also is an issue across the border in County Westmeath. It is forcing families out of private rented accommodation into emergency accommodation. I do not believe in the current economic circumstances there is any justification for our spending €2,740 every day on bed and breakfasts and hotels to provide accommodation for families. It is not good enough for the Minister for Social Protection to say that we will review the rent supplement thresholds and we will have a decision by the end of the year. Those families need to get stable accommodation now. They should not be housed in bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation and we should not be paying €2,740 every day to pick up the tab for those bed and breakfasts and hotels. There is no justification for that and it needs to stop now.

Another issue associated with an overhaul of the rent supplement scheme that needs to be addressed relates to the county boundaries. I am not the only one proposing this in that the Minister's officials have recommended that changes need to take place in regard to county boundaries. I will give the example of the community of Monksland on the edge of Athlone is in County Roscommon. The rent threshold for a couple with two children is €410 but if they go over the white line on the middle of the road the rent threshold is €110 a month higher on the other side of the white line. As bad all that is, if one travels 14 miles up the road from there to Ballinasloe, the differential between getting accommodation on either side of the white line in the middle of the road is €315 a month of a difference. That is causing geographical discrimination for people in County Roscommon who cannot access accommodation in their own county. It has an impact in regard to schools, shops, community services, communities, local sports clubs and the GAA in that children cannot attend their local school or live in their community where there parents come from because of a discrepancy of €315 or because there happens to be a white dividing line in the middle of road, with the requisite extra being made available for accommodation on one side of the white line. The Minister's officials have written to her asking her to deal with this anomaly and to date she has not been prepared to do so. The failure to revise the rent allowance system is causing unnecessary hardship, causing homelessness and forcing families on to the road.

There is no justification for that.

Based on the local government report for 2012 which is the most up-to-date available to me, one in 18 local authority houses was vacant. Four of every ten of those houses require major refurbishment. All of us are knocking on doors around the country at the moment. It is soul destroying to go into local authority estates and see vacant houses that are perfectly suitable to accommodate people and do not require major refurbishment. However, it is completely devastating, as the Minister of State will know better than anyone, to see houses left to rack and ruin in local authority estates. They bring down the estate and demoralise the whole community. Given the housing crisis this issue needs to be addressed. We have more vacant houses than we had in 2008 and yet far more people are on the housing lists today than in 2008.

I will make a suggestion to the Minister of State. In numerous cases families are allocated a house but the local authority does not have the resources to employ the painter or carpenter to carry out minor repairs to the houses. Many local authority houses fall into that category. If the incoming tenant is a qualified painter or carpenter or has a next of kin who is a qualified painter or carpenter we could come to some kind of arrangement for minor works. I accept that for electrical works etc. we need to have a certified competent contractor who is recognised by the local authority. However, with minor works surely we could have some mechanism where there would be a discount on the rent over a period of time and the tenant could then go in and carry out those minor repairs and have that property occupied rather than having it left idle resulting in windows being broken and eventually it being boarded up for months or years and families being left in private rented accommodation. There are plenty of tradesmen available who even on a voluntary basis would be willing to help out in that regard. Surely we could have some kind of joined-up thinking in that regard.

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